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the  uwmw 

OF  THE 

wmim  « 


UqgfSLVHtl  Iry  T Daneyr  El  gin.  711 


:7V 


7 r? 


SIX  LECTURES 


O N 

THEOLOGY  AND  NATURE. 


I.  ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 

II.  RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 

III.  THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 

IV.  SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 

Y.  SIN  AND  DEATH. 

VI.  HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


TOGETHER  WITH  THE  OUTLINE  OF 

A PLAN  FOR  A HUMANE  ENTERPRISE, 

AND  AN 

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  INTRODUCTION. 


By  EMMA  HARDIN GKE.  £ / 


REPORTED  BY  R.  R.  HITT. 

I860. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1860,  by 
W.  C.  BRUSON, 

In  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Northern  District  of  Illinois. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  series  of  Lectures  was  delivered  in 
the  course  of  three  Sundays,  during  the  months  of 
October  and  November,  1860,  at  Kingsbury  Hall, 
Chicago,  111.  They  excited  a wide  and  profound 
interest  at  the  time ; and  the  large  audience  that 
greeted  Miss  Hardinge,  on  her  first  appearance  — 
their  deep  attention  and  intelligent  appreciation, 
continued  unabated  throughout  the  series.  The 
discourses  were  taken  down,  as  delivered,  by  R.  R. 
Hitt,  Esq.,  stenographic  reporter  of  the  Chicago 
Press  and  Tribune  ; and  are  now  published  from  his 
short-hand  notes,  without  revision — nothing  having 
been  suggested  or  added  by  the  speaker,  except 
the  autobiographical  introduction. 


TO  THE  READER. 


Ere  I can  consent  to  submit  the  following  pages  to  the  criticism  of 
promiscuous  minds,  I must  offer  a few  remarks  on  their  composition,  of 
an  introductory  as  well  as  deprecatory  character.  The  course  of  “ Six 
Lectures  ” herewith  presented,  was  given  through  my  lips,  under  what 
I believe  to  be  the  influence  of  Spirit  power,  and  an  intelligence 
foreign  to  my  own.  The  law  of  such  communications  is  sufficiently 
well  understood  by  the  majority  of  those  who  will  feel  an  interest  in 
these  pages,  and  I need  only  add,  for  the  information  of  the  “unini- 
tiated,” that  whilst  the  theory  of  spirit  communion  claims  the  possi- 
bility of  the  most  exalted  ideas  inflowing  upon  the  organism  of  a 
medium,  through  the  different  conditions  of  vision,  trance,  impression, 
psychology,  etc.,  such  ideas  are  invariably  shaped  in  their  external  ex- 
pression, first,  by  the  cerebral  development,  and  next,  by  the  vocal 
organs  of  the  medium.  Much  of  what  is  here  presented,  therefore,  is 
original  in  idea,  at  least,  with  an  intelligential  power  beneath  whose 
psychological  impress  my  own  mind  becomes  mere  wax.  The  phraseology 
and  innumerable  irregularities  of  expression  must  be  received  as  evi- 
dence of  a conflict  between  the  infinite  realms  of  thought  and  the  finite 
chain  of  imperfect  human  language ; the  soaring  eagle  flight  of  a spiritual 
idea,  fettered  by  the  narrow,  half-conscious  prison  of  an  organism  whose 
humanity  must  forbid  its  participation  in  conceptions  often  transcending 
its  own  sphere  of  observation.  Measure  not  the  ocean  of  mind,  there- 
fore, from  which  the  thoughts  pervading  these  addresses  have  come,  by 
the  form  of  the  narrow  banks  of  the  human  channel  in  which  you  find 
them  imprisoned. 

The  subjects  of  these  Lectures  (though  presented  by  me  to  a Chicago 
audience  for  the  first  time)  have  formed  the  theme  of  address  in  one  or 
two  other  places  before — such  subjects  being  deemed  by  my  guides  of 
more  importance  as  principles,  (the  enforcement  of  which  should  be 
one  main  object  of  my  teachings,)  than  the  mere  capacity  to  make  a 
speech , no  matter  what  the  subject,  provided  it  was  “ something  new.” 
For  the  first  two  years  of  my  public  teaching,  I was  chiefly  exercised 


6 


TO  THE  READER. 


in  the  phenomenal  part  of  speech-making,  generally  submitting  the 
subjects  to  the  choice  of  a committee  formed  on  the  spot,  or  presenting, 
through  spirit  direction,  addresses  extemporized  on  every  conceivable 
variety  of  subjects,  the  texts  of  which  were  very  frequently  found  in 
the  events  and  surroundings  of  the  hour,  such  as  a flower  laid  on  the 
desk,  the  falling  rain,  or,  still  more  commonly,  a question  proposed  by 
some  stranger  in  the  audience.  “ The  day  of  phenomena  is  passing 
away,”  is  the  language  of  one  of  my  Guides,  “ and  if  you  mediums 
would  become  the  instructors,  rather  than  the  wonder  of  your  audiences, 
suffer  us  to  enforce  and  repeat  by  ‘ line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon 
precept,’  such  principles  as  will  grow  into  fundamental  truths  in  the 
people’s  hearts.”  At  the  same  time,  however  hackneyed  the  subject 
may  be  to  myself  or  others,  I find  that  its  treatment  is  singularly  varied 
in  adaptation  to  the  different  classes  of  mind  and  intelligence  that  sur- 
round me.  “ Truths,  laws  and  principles  are  for  all  times,  and  revela- 
tion belongs  to  eternity.  Its  expression,  however,  must  be  adapted  to  the 
time,  place  and  person,  or  it  is  valueless.”  This  is  another  sentence 
by  which  my  Guides  have  intimated  their  dissent  from  the  frequent 
propositions  that  have  been  made  to  me  to  publish  my  Lectures.  “ We 
think  for  all  time — but  speak  for  the  hour.”  “ The  thought  will  not 
perish,  but  the  words,  gestures,  intonation  and  present  surroundings, 
being  specially  adapted  to  the  present  hour,  will  serve  but  as  a husk  to 
enclose  the  living  grain,  rather  than  as  the  daily  bread  which  each  hour 
demands,  if  it  be  written  or  preserved  in  stereotyped  gospels.”  Why 
then,  it  may  be  asked,  do  I depart  from  so  wholesome  a provision 
against  the  infliction  of  “ stereotyped  gospels,”  upon  a growing  people 
whose  minds  cannot  fail  to  overleap  the  fetters  of  stationary  books  ? 
This  is  my  answer : At  the  close  of  these  Lectures,  I was  introduced 
to  a gentleman,  who,  I found,  had  hired  a reporter  at  his  own  expense, 
to  transcribe  them,  and  conceiving  that  they  would  benefit  the  world  in 
the  same  proportion  as  he  had  himself  profited,  he  generously  deter- 
mined to  bear  all  the  risk  and  expense  of  publication,  and  by  presenting 
them  in  the  most  attractive  form  possible,  add  to  the  good  which  he 
supposed  their  perusal  might  produce,  a surplus  fund,  which  he  nobly 
dedicated  to  the  promotion  of  a great  philanthropic  undertaking  in  favor 
of  forlorn,  outcast,  homeless  females.  The  entire  unselfishness  of  this 
project,  like  a warm  ray  of  sunlight,  completely  melted  away  the  ice  of 
my  philosophical  scruples.  “Let  kindness  prevail,”  I cried,  “and 
the  sun  of  human  love  shine  on,  though  it  may  put  out  the  eye  of 


TO  THE  READER. 


7 


deliberate  reason,  and  overflow  the  banks  of  judgment  with  its  genial 
thaw  !”  And  so,  reader,  for  the  sake  of  that  unselfish  love  of  humanity 
which  defies  the  check-rein  of  cold  prudence  to  guide  it,  you  have  this 
course  of  Six  Lectures  in  all  their  unstudied,  uncorrected  (for  they  have 
not  even  been  seen  or  revised  by  me  in  any  way)  crudity.  If  you  can 
extract  the  kernel  of  spiritual  thought  from  the  rough  husk  of  unpre- 
meditated human  speech,  they  may  do  you  good, — If  you  fail,  the  money 
you  bestow  upon  the  unappreciated  page  will  buy  one  brick  in  the  home 
for  the  homeless,  the  shelter  for  the  houseless,  whose  miserable  lot  has 
been  one  of  the  stimulants  to  this  publication. 

I have  been  solicited,  by  the  publisher  of  this  work,  to  add  some 
account  of  my  own  mediumship  and  connection  with  the  great  spiritual- 
istic movement.  Two  reasons  induce  me  to  comply  with  this  request 
as  briefly  as  may  be  : the  first  is,  the  immense  saving  of  time  and 
breath  which  I am  constantly  called  upon  to  bestow,  for  the  satisfaction 
of  inquirers  who  have  never  studied  the  homely  proverb  of  “ mind  your 
own  business;”  and  the  next  is,  the  saving  of  all  manner  of  eccentric 
characters  which  divers  persons,  highly  interested  in  minding'  my  busi- 
ness, insist  upon  fastening  on  me,  to  the  manifest  injury  of  truth,  and 
sometimes  to  my  infinite  bewilderment  as  to  whether  I am  myself, 
or  the  apocryphal  personage  I sometimes  hear  spoken  of  as  Emma 
Hardinge. 

In  brief,  then,  I was  born  in  London,  England,  and  up  to  the  age 
of  twelve  years,  was  educated  in  the  quiet  seclusion  of  “ sweet  home.” 
The  death  of  a noble  father,  and  the  entire  disruption  of  family  ties, 
sent  me  out  into  the  world  at  this  early  period  of  my  life,  first  as  a 
teacher  of  music  in  a school,  and  subsequently  as  a concert  player  and 
vocalist.  I beg,  distinctly,  once  and  for  all,  to  claim,  that  I never  went 
to  school  in  my  life  as  a student ; that  the  common  branches  of  English 
education  were  received  only  in  the  * family  circle  of  accomplished 
English  ladies,  and  the  life  page  of  good  society  ; and  that  in  no  science 
but  the  theory  of  music,  and  the  all-absorbing  page  of  harmony  and 
composition,  did  I ever  receive  any  instruction,  or  pursue  any  study. 
From  the  age  of  twelve,  my  public  life  commenced  ; and  any  one  who 
has  become  acquainted  with  the  severe  studies  which  musical  artistes 
are  called  upon  to  pursue  in  Europe,  (especially  when  in  addition  I had 
to  provide  a home  for  myself  and  my  mother  by  my  teaching,  etc.,) 
will  scoff  at  the  idea  that  any  leisure  could  have  been  afforded  me  for 
those  metaphysical  and  scientific  studies  in  which  certain  of  my  Amer- 


8 


TO  THE  READER 


ican  friends  confidently  affirm  “ my  youth  was  absorbed.”  With 
the  exception  of  a little  dabbling  in  astrology,  pursued  under  the 
auspices  of  merry  gipsying  parties,  I never  heard  of,  much  less  studied, 
any  “ ology  ” in  my  life.  From  six  to  eight  hours’  practice  of  vocal 
and  instrumental  music  each  day,  and  the  gay  soirees  in  which  musical 
artistes  form  the  chief  feature  in  European  aristocratic  circles, — thus 
passed  my  early  life,  until  the  complete  loss  of  my  singing  voice,  and 
chronic  difficulties  with  my  throat,  compelled  me  to  adopt  speaking 
instead  of  singing  for  a profession,  and  the  drama  instead  of  the  opera. 
From  this  period  I remained  in  one  London  theatre  for  seven  years, 
and  except  on  rare  occasions,  never  during  that  period  passed  more 
than  a week  at  a time  exempt  from  the  arduous  and  all-engrossing 
duties  of  a London  actress’  life.  To  study  original  parts  for  a very 
fashionable  and  aristocratic  theatre — to  compose  the  most  recherche 
costumes — acquire  all  the  accomplishments  which  entitle  a successful 
London  artiste  to  entree  in  the  best  society, — filled  up  my  time  to  the 
fullest  measure ; and  yet,  from  duties  which  engrossed  my  companions 
too  constantly  to  allow  of  the  study  of  anything  but  the  “role”  of 
the  night,  I contrived  to  steal  time  to  play  the  organ  and  piano,  and 
give  many  compositions  to  the  public.  Messrs.  Bookworms,  who  see 
only  in  books  and  a life  of  incessant  study,  the  origin  of  my  Lectures, 
this  was  my  life  up  to  the  very  hour  when  I set  foot  on  the  shores  of 
America,  in  the  year  1855.  Be  so  good,  all  ye  who  peruse  these 
pages,  to  shape  your  confident  assertions  accordingly.  I came  to 
America,  purposing  to  pass  six  months,  which  the  horrors  of  the  Crimean 
war,  then  raging,  made  very  sad  and  depressing  in  London,  in  a 
temporary  engagement  in  New  York.  The  six  months  extended  to 
ten,  and  during  that  period,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I heard  of 
Spiritualism. 

The  idea  of  communion  with  “the  dead”  appeared,  in  the  outset, 
impossible,  then  wicked,  and  nothing  but  the  persuasions  of  several 
persons  by  whom  I was  surrounded,  could  have  induced  me  to  investi- 
gate. Purposing  to  return  to  England  in  a few  weeks,  however,  and 
not  unwilling  to  carry  away  with  me  subjects  for  sport  and  ridicule, 
(an  inhospitable  practice,  too  common  among  foreigners  when  visiting 
distant  countries,)  I determined  to  witness  what  I knew  (as  all  know 
who  really  know  nothing  about  Spiritualism,)  was  “ a grand  American 
humbug .”  Trusting  to  my  shrewdness  to  detect  what  I felt  must  be  a 
very  shallow  imposture,  I visited  Mr.  Conklin,  the  well-known  test 


TO  THE  READER. 


9 


medium  of  New  York.  Before  I was  introduced  into  the  circle  then 
assembled,  I heard  a sentence  spelled  out  which  appeared  to  me  at 
variance  with  Bible  writ.  This  was  enough — after  the  fashion  of 
some  of  those  who  attend  our  spiritual  lectures,  and  with  so  little  con- 
fidence in  the  truth  of  their  own  system,  that  the  moment  they  hear  it 
attacked,  they  rise  up  and  fly,  lest  their  truth  and  their  religion  should 
fly  first — I fled,  scared  off,  in  fear  that  my  “rock  of  ages,”  my 
Bible,  should  be  insulted,  and  my  own  unswerving  faith  be  shaken, 
by  sitting  in  such  infidel  company.  It  was  many  weeks  before  I could 
bring  myself  to  understand  that  great  truths  are  never  in  danger,  and 
that  every  blow  leveled  against  a rock,  must  be  made  with  stronger 
material  than  the  rock,  before  it  can  touch  it. 

In  my  second  attempt,  I was  taken  to  Ada  Hoyt,  the  well-known 
test  rapping  medium,  through  whom  I first  heard  the  magic  raps — on 
table,  wall,  floor,  my  own  chair,  and  in  every  possible  direction,  where 
machinery,  imposture,  or  any  contrivance  secreted  about  the  medium’s 
person,  were  impossible — every  question,  mental  as  well  as  oral,  was 
satisfactorily  answered,  and  nothing  but  conviction  should  have 
followed  so  convincing  a seance,  had  not  unreasoning  bigotry  and 
prejudice  assured  me  it  was  impossible,  because  it  was — and,  still 
worse,  the  obstinate  raps  persisted  in  calling  me  “a  medium.”  Weeks 
of  patient,  earnest  investigation  followed.  In  the  presence  of  Mrs. 
Kellogg,  of  New  York,  I became  developed  as  a test  medium — by 
writing,  personating,  seeing,  hearing,  and  a variety  of  phases,  I was 
enabled  to  sit  for  inquirers,  and  cheerfully  gave  my  services  for  more 
than  a year  to  all  who  desired  them.  Still  I could  not  wholly  yield 
up  my  belief.  I found  I had  always  been  a medium.  Trance,  with 
its  unconscious  speech,  was  but  another  phase  of  somnambulism,  for 
which,  from  a child,  I had  been  remarkable.  Psychometry  accounted 
for  the  fact,  that,  as  a dramatist,  I never  remember  to  have  felt  fully 
studied  in  any  part  I had  to  play,  until  I had  slept  on,  or  at  least  lain 
down  with  my  head  in  close  proximity  with  the  page  I had  to  study. 
A thousand  weird  peculiarities  of  my  youth  now  recalled  themselves 
to  me  in  the  clear  light  of  spiritual  impression — ghosts,  presentiments, 
sounds  and  voices,  impulses,  and  all  the  vagaries  beneath  which  I was 
branded  by  the  title  of  “ a very  strange  child,”  and  in  later  years 
acquired  the  name  of  “ Elfie,”  signifying  a sprite  or  fairy — all  now 
loomed  up  in  the  light  of  spiritual  realities ; a life-long  preparation  for 
my  present  position ; but  as  the  experiences  of  every  medium  are 


10 


TO  THE  READER. 


shaped  by  their  organization,  and  adapted  specially  to  their  individual- 
ity, so  it  would  be  impossible  in  this  brief  notice  to  give  the  faintest 
idea  of  the  worlds  of  thought,  deed,  and  revelation  that  have  been 
crowded  into  my  little  four  years  of  spiritual  experience,  nor  yet  to 
divine  it  by  the  experience  of  another.  Suffice  it  to  say,  I pursued 
my  researches  and  experiments  in  every  available  quarter,  high  or 
low — in  circles  in  cellars  and  garrets,  saloons  and  woods — never 
shrinking  from  the  evil,  so  long  as  I felt  sure  of  my  own  integrity,  nor 
injured  by  the  false,  so  long  as  I was  true  myself.  I have  convinced 
myself  thoroughly  of  the  truth  of  psychology  and  magnetism,  by' 
repeatedly  becoming  the  subject  of  the  influence,  nor  are  there  many 
phases  of  mediumship,  except  physical  force  manifestations,  which  I 
have  not  practically  experienced,  and  carefully  investigated.  For 
many  months  I devoted  myself  to  this  absorbing  search — to  sitting  for 
the  public,  and  being  the  instrument  of  Spirits  in  various  ways,  without 
the  least  idea  of  ever  being  a “ public  trance  speaker  ” — always  on  the 
eve  of  returning  to  England,  and  always  fettered  down  by  my  unseen 
psychologists  to  their  work.  I at  last  began  to  wake  to  the  conscious- 
ness that  my  mother  and  myself  must  live  on  material  as  well  as 
spiritual  bread — that  my  Spirit  Guides  had  forbidden  the  stage  to  me — 
that  my  pupils  in  music  shrank  away  from  the  weird  reputation  of  a 
medium — that  my  contributions  to  spiritual  papers  transmuted  the  gold 
from  my  pocket  to  mere  laurels  for  my  head,  and  that  all  the  time, 
health  and  effort  I was  bestowing  on  the  world  as  a medium,  was 
merely  laying  up  treasures  for  to-morrow,  without  doing  the  smallest 
thing  towards  supplying  the  wants  of  to-day. 

Then  came  the  word  of  power — “ Emma,  you  must  go  out  and  speak 
to  the  world.” 

I had  borne  all  sorts  of  deceptions  from  the  Spirits,  and  found 
them  the  best  of  lessons  ; practical  tests,  both  of  their  strict  humanity, 
and  the  necessity  of  trying  them  according  to  scripture  formula.  I 
had  proved  that  all  the  chaff  of  Spiritualism  contained  living  kernels 
of  life  ; that  all  the  trials,  sufferings  and  apparent  evils  in  which  I was 
often  tried  in  very  purgatorial  fires,  were  good  for  me,  abundant  in 
use  and  teaching,  and  that  no  dark  spirit  ever  stood  on  my  left  hand, 
unaccompanied  by  a radiant  angel  in  white,  on  my  right.  In  a word, 
in  an  experience  as  sharp  and  bitter  as  has  ever  fallen  to  the  lot  of  a 
Spirit  Medium  of  these  modern  days,  I would  not  then,  anymore  than 
I would  now,  part  with  one  singlo  trial,  nor  can  I feel  that  aught  but 


TO  THE  READER. 


11 


Divine  wisdom  and  Omniscient  power  was  dealing  with  me  through 
every  variety  of  spiritual  intelligence ; but  this  last  charge , to  wit, 
that  I,  a woman,  and,  moreover,  “ a lady  by  birth ,”  and  English , 
above  all,  that  1 would  go  out,  like  “ strong  minded  women,”  and 
hector  the  world,  on  public  platforms  ! oh,  shocking  ! I vowed  rebel- 
lion— to  give  up  Spirits,  Spiritualism,  and  America;  return  to  England, 
and  live  “ a feminine  existence”  once  again.  With  these  magnani- 
mous resolves  strong  upon  me  one  week , the  next  saw  me  on  a public 
platform,  fairly  before  the'world  as  a Trance  speaker. 

The  details  of  my  struggle,  and  its  conquest,  are  too  long  for  inser- 
tion here ; the  whole  may  be  summed  up  in  one  sentence ; I am  a good 
psychological  subject,  and  the  Spirits  are  good  psychologists.  They,  it 
seems,  wanted  me,  had  ground  me  in  the  mill  of  suffering,  expressly 
to  fit  me  for  this  wprk ; “ and  what  frail  bark  can  stem  its  way  against 
the  ocean’s  tide  ?”  In  my  first  debut  as  a Spiritual  Lecturer,  I spoke 
after  a manner,  which,  with  modifications  growing  out  of  atmospheric, 
physical,  and  psycical  conditions,  continues  up  to  the  present  time. 
For  sometime  before  the  commencement  of  the  lecture,  but  chiefly 
after  taking  my  seat  on  the  platform,  I feel  the  pressure  of  a dreamy 
magnetic  influence,  at  times  deepening  into  complete  abstraction  from 
the  surrounding  scene.  I cannot  always  tell  the  exact  commencement 
of  the  lecture.  The  audience,  the  scene,  and  my  own  words  appear 
present,  as  “ in  a dream  within  a dream.”  The  effect  of  human 
psychology  upon  me  is  very  painful.  There  is  an  absolute  compulsion 
to  perform  a certain  part,  whilst  I retain  sufficient  consciousness  to 
appreciate  and  hopelessly  to  struggle  against  the  control  exercised.  In 
these  spiritual  lectures  I can  equally  clearly  recognize  the  presence  of 
psychological  control.  The  unprompted  flow  of  words  are  not  my  own. 
Every  gesture  and  movement  appears  to  me,  at  times,  compelled,  and 
yet  the  compulsion  is  accompanied  by  a dreamy  indifference  on  my 
part,  a perfect  absence  of  care,  and  sense  of  safety  and  protection  from 
my  precious  invisible  masters,  that  renders  my  servitude  an  exceed- 
ingly happy  one.  I can  feel  rather  than  see  the  audience ; and  their 
degree  of  intelligence,  but  especially  the  presence  of  antagonism,  is 
painfully  distinct.  Sometimes  a strongly  marked  individual  character 
in  the  audience  becomes  prominent  to  me,  occasionally  and  markedly 
influencing  the  lecture,  sometimes  presenting  singular  points  of  char- 
acter, the  contemplation  of  which  will  absorb  my  attention  whilst  the 
lecture  proceeds.  The  details  of  my  addresses  I can  only  realize  very 


12 


TO  THE  READER. 


imperfectly  at  the  time,  my  own  state  being  too  dreamy  for  acute  per- 
ception. Hours  of  subsequent  quiet  communion  with  the  Spirit  world 
are  essential  to  the  realization  of  personal  benefit  from  the  teachings 
given. 

For  the  names  of  those  beneath  whose  ministry  I am  happy  in  the 
belief  of  acting,  although  frequently  questioned,  I feel  no  prompting 
to  state  them.  I have  good  reason  for  my  belief  in  their  identity,  but 
those  reasons  are  only  influential  with  myself  and  a few  others*.  To 
the  world  I can  offer  no  direct  testimony  on  this  point,  and  am  instruct- 
ed to  present  whatever  truths  my  lips  can  utter,  for  the  truth’s  sake- 
alone.  “ A great  name  cannot  sanctify  an  error,  nor  add  to  the  lustre 
of  a truth,”  say  my  Guides;  “ be  it  the  mission  of  wise  Spirits  to  sub- 
stitute for  the  authority  of  a name,  the  omniscience  of  truth  only.” 
Besides  the  kind  and  powerful  band  who  seem  to  throng  around  me  in 
my  public  mission,  I am  constantly  surrounded  by  a few  Spirit  friends, 
one  of  whom,  after  the  fashion  of  the  reputed  “familiar,”  appears  a 
duplicate  of  my  very  self,  conversing  with  me  with  all  the  facility  of 
human  speech,  at  all  times,  places  and  situations,  advising  and  war- 
ing me  of  the  future,  peering  into  the  unveiled  natures  of  almost  every 
one  who  approaches  me,  cheering  me  in  that  which  to  the  world  would 
be  loneliness,  but  which  is  to  me  the  most  precious  companionship,  and 
by  a thousand  little  tests  separating  his  intelligence  from  my  own,  and 
ten  thousand  little*  acts  of  care,  foresight  and  tenderness,  justifying  my 
grateful  cry,  “ Oh,  Spirit,  thy  love  puts  this  cold  world  to  shame.” 

Thus  far,  then,  I have  brought  up  my  notice  (if  I may  so  phrase  it,) 
of  my  public  career  to  the  present  hour.  The  details  would  compre- 
hend a very  large  volume,  for  “ we  live  in  heart  throbs,  not  in  figures 
on  the  dial.”  In  the  four  years  of  my  spiritual  experience,  therefore, 
I have  lived  a very  long  life ; traveled  through  most  of  the  States  of 
this  vast  America,  often  going  many  thousand  miles  in  a few  months. 
In  all  my  journeyings,  East,  West,  North,  and  South,  I have  always 
gone  by  the  direction  of  the  Spirits,  and  though  my  engagements  are 
generally  made  twelvemonths  in  advance,  I never,  save  once,  (and  that 
in  verification  of  a prediction,)  have  broken  any  ; never  encountered 
loss,  accident,  or  insult ; enjoyed  health  and  strength  unprecedented  in 
my  former  life ; and  with  the  exception  of  one  generous,  unselfish 
human  friend,  and  that  a rival  lecturer  to  boot, — Mrs.  E.  J.  French,  ot 
New  York, — I started  on  my  public  career  without  a human  hand  to 
aid,  or  a human  brain  to  counsel  mo. 


TO  THE  READER. 


13 


The  predictions  of  my  true-hearted  friend,  Mrs.  French,  and  the 
assurance  of  the  Spirits,  that  “without  editor  to  puff,  or  friend  to 
recommend  ; without  a place  to  go  to  ; a stranger,  and  utterly  unknow- 
ing and  unknown  in  the  country,  I should  visit  every  State,  find  a 
home  in  every  city,  success  everywhere,  and  all  through  the  power  of 
the  Spirits,” — all  this  and  more,  much  more  than  I could  have  dared 
to  ask  or  hope  for,  has  been  showered  upon  me.  Truly  I may  say, 
though  country,  home  and  kindred  are  left  behind,  and  though  fortune 
and  fame  have  never  yet  entered  into  my  calculations,  or  influenced  a 
single  step  I have  ever  taken  in  Spiritualism,  yet  in  disregarding 
these,  I have  sold  all  in  exchange  for  the  pearl  of  price  that  is  worth 
more  to  me  than  all  the  world  beside. 

EMMA  HARDINGE. 

Chicago,  Illinois,  November,  1860. 


LECTURE  FIRST. 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELI  GrIO  1ST. 


Delivered  at  Kingsbury  Hall,  Sunday  Morning,  Oct.  21,  1860. 


[Miss  Hardinge  appeared  on  the  platform,  and  commenced  speaking  to  a crowded  house, 
at  fifteen  minutes  before  eleven  o’clock.  She  spoke  as  follows:] 

“ And  upon  her  forehead  was  a name  written,  Mystery,  Babylon  the  Great, 
the  mother  of  harlots  and  abominations  of  the  earth.” 

This  is  essentially  a thinking  age  — the  age  of  thought 
throughout  the  universe.  The  various  changes  that  are  every- 
where pervading  the  race,  are  at  the  instigation  of  thought, 
— that  thought  which  demands  liberty.  The  aim  of  the 
people  is  for  liberty.  In  every  corner  of  the  known  earth, 
at  this  day,  at  this  very  hour,  the  cry  is  for  liberty.  The 
blow  that  is  struck,  and  the  plot  that  is  hatched,  are  for 
liberty  — liberty  for  the  body,  liberty  for  the  soul.  It  is  not 
alone  the  masses  — no  more  the  masses,  but  now  the  individ- 
uals, are  craving  their  rights,  are  struggling  for  liberty. 
The  cry  has  gone  forth,  for  that  thought  stimulates  every 
brain  and  every  heart  to  be  free.  Hence,  from  before  every 
pulpit,  around  the  desk  of  every  writer,  the  cry  comes  forth 
for  liberty  for  the  soul. 

Therefore  it  is  that  we  propose  this  day  to  consider  who 
and  what  is  the  antagonist  against  which  the  fighting  soul  is 
bringing  her  forces  in  the  attempts  for  liberty.  Wherever 
we  find  a chain  bound  to  the  human  soul,  that  chain  is  drawn 
and  forged  by  the  hand  of  mystery.  Wherever  the  will  of 
Heaven,  the  knowledge  of  the  Creator  and  the  knowledge 
of  human  destiny  are  darkened  from  human  souls,  it  is  by 


16 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


the  power  of  mystery.  Nothing  but  mystery  stands  between 
the  Creator  and  the  creature ; nothing  but  mystery  enclouds 
the  knowledge  of  human  destiny.  There  are  some  of  ye, 
too,  who  may  claim  that  the  present  is  enough — that  to  live 
by  virtue,  to  act  out  your  pious  part  is  sufficient  for  this  hour 
— that  whatever  may  be  your  destiny  in  the  future,  there  is  a 
system  of  religion  which  will  provide  for  it. 

These  dogmas,  these  forms,  these  institutions  termed  reli- 
gions, have  been  established  from  the  beginning  of  the  world. 
Men,  wise  and  instructed  in  the  various  systems  of  religion, 
have  been  appointed  to  preside  over  and  take  charge  of  these 
things.  The  present  is  enough  for  ye.  If  your  priests  could 
die  for  ye,  if  your  religious  teachers  could  live  for  ye  in  the 
hereafter,  religious  systems  would  be  enough  for  ye. 

But  there  is  a revolution  which  .in  this  nineteenth  century 
has  passed  over  the  earth  like  a flood ; this  revolution  is 
termed  modern  Spiritualism.  By  the  disclosures  it  makes, 
you  are  informed,  out  of  the  lips  you  have  known,  loved, 
trusted,  recognized,  and  now  understand  to  be  the  dearest 
and  nearest  to  your  own  human  souls.  By  this  means,  you 
comprehend  that  your  life  does  not  ever  begin  here ; that 
you  are  in  but  a rudimental  state  ; that  here  the  seed  is  only 
sown  in  the  darkness  of  the  ground ; that  you  are  not  abso- 
lutely born  until  the  great  change  called  death  has  liberated 
your  life,  and  given  your  spirit  the  first  moment  of  its  real 
existence  ; that  there  commences  your  being  ; that  whatever 
you  have  thought,  done,  said,  or  acted  during  the  seven  days 
of  the  week  constitutes  the  heaven  or  the  hell,  the  real 
tangible  locality  in  which  you  commence  your  spirit  life. 

If  this  be  true,  stand  ye  this  day  the  arbiter  between  your 
religions  and  modern  Spiritualism,  and  judge  which  ye  shall 
take.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of  endeavoring  to  build  a great 
present  church  of  reality  that  spirits  come ; it  is  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  you  a living,  tangible  religion ; of  rending 
the  vail  of  mystery,  and  at  least  giving  you  a chance  that  you 
shall  not  take  your  leap  in  the  dark — that  you  shall  not  go, 
you  know  not  whither — that  you  shall  not  ruin  the  spirit  that 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


IT 


God  has  planted  in  the  world  of  matter,  that  spirits  are  now 
in  your  midst.  For  ten  years  they  have  presented  to  you 
proofs  of  the  living  reality  of  the  spirit  land. 

The  antagonist  power  to  these  views  have  been  the  sys- 
tems of  mystery,  known  as  religion.  Wherever  the  father 
whom  you  trusted,  the  mother  whom  you  loved,  the  friend, 
the  statesman,  the  philanthropist,  the  mighty  and  the  wise 
of  all  past  ages,  speak  to  you  of  an  existence  antagonistic  to 
your  present  system  of  teaching,  up  rises  the  tremendous 
Babylon  of  Mystery,  darkening  out  the  real  tangible  life  of 
God’s  own  facts,  and  presenting  to  you  the  solemn  mysteries, 
veiled  behind  which  your  soul  must  be  shrouded,  and  against 
which  your  life  may  be  wrecked.  Spirits  at  least  find,  that 
to  build  the  great  church  of  the  future,  to  uprear  the  house 
and  admit  the  sunlight  into  that  mansion  through  whose  glo- 
rious illuminated  windows  every  human  soul  may  read  its 
destiny,  the  great  Babylon  of  mystery  must  be  opened  up 
unto  ye.  Ye  shall  know  that  which  ye  assert.  Oh,  Israel ! 
ye  shall  comprehend  the  gods  before  whom  ye  bow  down  and 
worship. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  power,  whatever  it  be,  that  is  now 
permitted  to  address  you  through  these  lips,  to  offer  some 
fragment  of  spiritual  knowledge,  which  it  is  the  mission  of 
immortals  to  bring.  Ere  we  do  so,  we  invite  you  this  morn- 
ing to  take  the  initiatory  step,  and  contemplate  the  great 
veil  of  mystery,  and  see  whence  it  came  ; then  shall  ye  choose 
before  what  God  ye  will  bow  down.  We  make  this  prologue 
ere  we  open  up  the  great  drama  of  religious  priestcraft, 
because  we  desire  that  none  should  fear  that  truth  is  in  dan- 
ger, or  that  they  may  hear  words  that  will  fall  harshly  upon 
their  hearts,  for  the  truth  is  safe.  Bless  the  lips  that  dig  up 
the  mystery  which  surrounds  it,  and  bring  it  to  the  light, 
for  truth  can  bear  the  light.  Therefore  we  ask,  with  him  of 
old,  “ What  is  the  truth?”  It  is  with  a view  of  placing 
truth  upon  a rock — of  disclosing  the  great  foundations  which 
the  Almighty  Architect  has  laid,  to  write  thereon  the  text  of 


9 


18 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION, 


liis  gospel,  that  we  design,  this  day,  to  open  up  this  veil  of 
mystery  before  you. 

What  are  religious  systems?  Whence  do  they  come? 
We  invite  ye  to  go  back  to  the  first  hours,  when  man  stereo- 
typed his  opinions  from  the  records  on  high ; and  thus  shall 
we  find  the  origin  of  all  present  systems.  Geology,  astrono- 
my, physiology  and  natural  history,  are  all  exact  sciences,  as 
far  as  ye  have  gone  in  their  investigation.  They  are  founded 
upon  demonstrable  facts.  By  these  ye  learn  that  the  world 
is  very  old  ; that  not  thousands,  but  millions  of  years  have 
swept  over  the  ages  since  first  the  foundations  of  this  planet 
were  laid.  All  the  remains  of  man’s  history,  point  to  the 
East  as  the  cradle  of  civilization — point  to  the  East  as  the 
land  where  systems  of  religion  first  prevailed.  We  dig  back 
amongst  the  monumental  remains ; we  examine  the  hiero- 
glyphics which  no  time  can  sweep  away ; we  pore  over  the 
Sacred  Books  of  other  languages ; we  stand  upon  the  very 
threshold  of  time  itself,  and  there  we  find  that  the  very  first, 
the  earliest  systems  that  ever  prevailed  upon  earth,  were  the 
worship  of  the  powers  of  nature.  We  find  that  the  ancients 
had  but  two  sciences — the  knowledge  of  agriculture  and  of 
astronomy.  The  knowledge  of  agriculture  was  the  result  of 
the  necessities  of  the  body.  Man  must  live.  The  earth,  the 
tree,  the  plant,  the  fruit — these  were  his  means  of  subsist- 
ence. To  cultivate  these  he  must  observe  times  and  seasons. 
The  ancients  soon  began  to  perceive  that  the  wondrous  majestic 
sun  was  the  source  of  that  light  and  heat  and  warmth  which 
produces  fertility.  They  also  observed  that  there  came  a 
period  of  time  when  this  magnificent  king-god,  this  great  power 
of  warmth  and  heat  and  plenty,  almost  disappeared,  when  his 
beams  grew  cold  and  feeble,  when  darkness  settled  over  the 
face  of  the  earth,  when  gloom,  and  wind,  and  storm,  and  tem- 
pest prevailed.  Then  they  perceived  that  there  was  another 
renovation  of  the  power  of  the  great  sun-god  ; and  by  observ- 
ing these  alternate  periods,  they  first  began  to  fashion  their 
time  into  what  wc  have  since  termed  years.  They  divided  up 
this  year  into  four  seasons.  They  then  observed  that  the  sun, 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


19 


during  a certain  period,  was  radiant  and  mighty,  then  he  dis- 
appeared. They  called  this  night  and  day.  They  next  ob- 
served that  there  were  secondary  orbits  and  secondary  lumi- 
naries— the  gracious  stars,  the  fiery  scriptures  of  the  skies, 
on  which  you  read  the  immensity  of  your  God’s  works.  Cer- 
tain groups  of  these  fiery  worlds,  they  observed,  ever  ap- 
peared in  certain  shapes  at  different  periods  of  the  year. 
They  called  these  constellations.  They  remarked  that  the 
sun  constantly  passed  through  these  groups  of  stars  at  dif- 
ferent and  regularly  recurring  periods.  They  conceived 
therefore,  that  these  stars  must  partake  of  the  same  influ- 
ences which  the  sun  itself  exerted.  They  soon  began  to 
divide  their  year  into  winter  and  summer.  They  called  the 
period  when  the  sun  passed  through  the  constellations  of 
summer,  the  hour  of  good ; they  called  that  of  winter,  the 
hour  of  evil. 

They  also  perceived  that  man  was  weak ; that  the  forces 
of  nature  were  strong ; that  the  mighty  winds,  and  boiling 
tempests,  and  raging  floods,  and  the  billowy  ocean,  were 
strong;  the  powerful  sun,  and  the  radiant  day — all  these  they 
perceived  were  beyond  their  control.  They  found  themselves 
possessed  of  a life  they  had  not  created,  surrounded  by  pow- 
ers they  could  not  control,  and  enveloped  in  a wondrous  veil 
of  mystery.  They  soon  perceived  that  there  was  order,  de- 
sign and  calculation,  power,  benificence  and  principle  every- 
where ; or  what  ye  now  term  laws.  They  observed  that 
nothing  but  mind  could  frame  laws — nothing  but  that  tri- 
umphant and  unseen  power  within  them,  which  they  called 
soul,  could  create,  could  alter,  destroy  or  reproduce ; and 
they  said,  “ Somewhere  there  is  a mighty  soul ; somewhere 
there  is  a great  mind  that  has  created  all  these  things,  that 
rules,  sustains  and  preserves  us.  May  not  this  power  dwell 
in  the  great  fiery  luminary  that  we  call  the  cause  of  good  ? 
and  may  not  these  beautiful  worlds  that  shine  night  after 
night  above  us,  that  influence  our  tides  and  our  vegetation, 
and  that  group  around  the  great  master  mind,  God — may  not 
these  be  the  habitation  of  those  spirits  whose  power  we  feel 


20 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION, 


though  we  cannot  see  them  ? May  not  light  and  heat  and 
vegetation  dwell  there?  May  not  the  great  gods  that  have 
ruled  and  governed  and  fashioned  this  wonderful  earth,  be 
resident  in  those  powerful  planets?”  And  so  they  termed 
the  stars  of  summer  the  signs  of  the  good  spirits.  The  stars 
of  winter,  they  named  the  evil  ones.  They  called  the  sum- 
mer constellations  by  glorious  names,  and  the  winter  constel- 
lations by  those  names  that  expressed  aversion  and  dread. 

Some  of  these  constellations  we  shall  now  refer  to.  They 
divided  them  into  twelve  signs  or  divisions ; you  now  pre- 
serve these  twelve  signs,  and  call  them  your  Zodiac.  These 
signs  of  the  year  the  ancients  called  by  a sacred  name.  They 
set  apart  certain  men  from  their  midst — men  of  religion,  men 
of  philosophy,  and  of  science.  They  called  these  men  over- 
seers. They  built  them  high  towers,  and  required  them  to 
govern  and  keep  watch  upon  the  luminaries  of  the  sky,  and 
give  them  notice  when  to  reap  and  when  to  sow,  when  the 
tides  of  the  Nile  and  the  Ganges  would  rise ; in  a word, 
these  men  were  entrusted  with  a knowledge  of  all  the 
sciences  which  the  simple  ancients  in  their  first  ignorant  con- 
dition could  conceive.  At  first,  these  men  were  faithful  to 
their  trusts.  They  reported  the  times  and  seasons.  They 
were  called  by  a name,  which  in  later  times,  amongst  Greeks, 
has  been  converted  into  Episcopacy  or  Episcopalians,  signi- 
fying oversee-ers.  At  first,  we  say,  they  were  faithful  to  their 
trusts.  They  named  the  constellation  of  spring,  The  Plow, 
because  that  was  the  season  to  plow  the  earth.  They  named 
another  glorious  constellation  The  Lamb,  because  that  was  the 
period  when  these  young  and  innocent  beings  gave  token  of 
a fruitful  summer.  They  named  another  The  Lion,  because  it 
was  the  period  of  the  raging  heat  of  the  royal  sun.  They 
named  the  constellation  of  autumn — the  great  and  mighty 
constellation  that  threatened  the  approach  of  dark  and  ter- 
rible winter,  The  Great  Dragon  ; - they  called  him  The  Serpent, 
first,  from  their  hatred  of  that  poisonous  creature,  and  next, 
because  the  concentric  rings  of  this  mighty  constellation 
represented  the  serpent.  As  the  sun  passed  through  these 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


21 


various  constellations,  the  ancients  held  their  great  feasts. 
In  the  spring  time  they  said,  “ The  glorious  sun  is  now  in  the 
sign  of  the  Lamb  ;”  we  will  adore  the  Lamb.  In  the  summer 
they  rejoiced  and  called  it  the  royal  period  of  good  ; and  now 
you  freemasons  have  instituted  a Royal  St.  John’s,  or  midsum- 
mer day.  Later  in  the  year,  they  beheld  the  sun  pass  through 
the  dreadful  sign  of  the  destroyer,  and  they  cried,  “Our  God 
is  now  conflicting  with  the  evil  angels.  There  is  war  in 
heaven.  Woe!  woe!  for  the  world.  The  destroyer  is  at 
hand.”  During  the  gloomy  period  of  winter,  they  named 
the  constellations  by  many  dreadful  titles.  At  last  came  the 
period  when  the  sun  passed  through  a constellation  resem- 
bling, as  the  ancients  pictorially  and  typically  expressed  it,  a 
woman  standing  alone  in  the  heavens.  This  was  about  the 
twenty-fifth  day  of  December.  They  said,  “Our  Sun-God  is 
now  passing  through  the  sign  of  the  Virgin.  Our  sun  is 
born  again.  Glory  to  the  Highest ! Rejoice,  ye  nations,  our 
sun  has  passed  through  the  sign  of  the  Virgin,  and  is  born 
again.”  Thus,  you  cannot  mention  a single  religion  on  earth 
that  has  not  held  this  period  as  the  most  sacred  of  the  whole 
year,  from  that  time.  The  sign  of  the  Lamb,  and  the  various 
others  which  we  have  mentioned,  began  to  typify  the  pas- 
sage of  the  sun  through  these  various  constellations. 

This  was  the  first  system  of  religion  upon  this  continent, 
whose  mounds  in  the  land  of  Mexico,  are  strange,  fantastic 
signs,  and  mysterious  relics  of  an  old  and  almost  forgotten 
system  ; in  Arabia,  in  the  island  kingdoms  of  the  East,  in 
the  Druidical  remains  that  survive  in  Lapland,  Norway, 
Sweden,  Denmark — in  all  parts  of  the  known  earth,  are  the 
vestiges  of  this  astronomical  religion.  It  was  the  first  reli- 
gion ; it  was  the  only  religion  that  prevailed  when  the  world 
was  young.  In  later  times,  it  has  been  termed  “ Sabaism,” 
or  the  worship  of  the  Sabeans,  or  fire-worship.  You  take 
exception  to  the  word  “ fire-worship.”  The  ancients  never 
worshiped  sun,  or  moon,  or  stars.  That  is  left  for  modern 
nations.  That  is  left  foi*  the  idolatrous  nineteenth  century. 
That  is  left  for  those  who  build  tall  steeples,  in  imitation  of 


99 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


the  pointed  flames  of  the  ancients.  In  those  days  of  inno- 
cence and  ignorance,  the  ancients  simply  knew  that  there 
was  a power  outside  of  themselves,  which  they  termed  by  a 
word  which  ye  translate  into  God.  They  simply  knew  that 
there  was  a power  that  caused  plenty,  and  one  that  caused 
famine.  They  likened  these  to  good  and  evil  among  them- 
selves ; and  hence  they  expressed  the  alternations  of  good  and 
evil  by  the  passage  of  the  sun  through  these  constellations. 

As  the  world  grew  older,  priests  grew  many.  The  over- 
seers that  were  set  upon  the  towers,  or  what  has  been  called, 
in  later  times,  the  walls  of  ancient  science,  grew  very  strong 
and  powerful.  By  means  of  their  sciences,  they  were 
enabled  to  calculate  eclipses,  to  predict  tempests  and  changes 
of  the  weather.  They  also  possessed  the  power  of  healing. 
On  all  the  ancient  monuments  ye  perceive  evidences  that  they 
were  magnetizers.  The  diseases  were  attributed  to  demons, 
who  were  supposed  to  possess  persons.  These  awful  powers 
were  supposed  to  be  left  loose  to  torment  and  torture  human- 
ity, and  these  priests  were  believed  to  be  invested  with  the 
power  to  dispossess  or  drive  out  these  demons.  They  very 
soon,  therefore,  began  to  appear  to  the  eyes  of  the  people  in 
some  supernatural  and  tremendous  point  of  view.  They 
could  read  the  stars,  and  commune  with  spirits.  They  knew 
the  designs  of  the  great  and  awful  Creator ; they  possessed 
his  awful  secrets  ; they  were  enabled  to  perform  signs  and 
wonders.  Thus,  the  people,  in  order  to  propitiate  them, 
brought  them  large  presents  and  enormous  sacrifices.  When 
storm,  and  tempest,  and  famine  came,  these  men  told  them 
their  God  was  angry,  and  urged  them  to  part  with  their 
wealth.  They  did  part  with  it ; and  the  tenth  part  of  every- 
thing was  reserved  for  the  priests.  But  at  last  the  priests 
began  to  find  that  they  were  growing  up  into  a strong  and 
mighty  body — that  the  rule  of  the  earth  was  committed  to 
their  charge.  They  were  no  more  than  the  servants  of  the 
people  at  first,  but  they  became  their  rulers,  and  they  said, 
“ Lest  the  people  should  become  as  wise  as  ourselves,  lest 
they  should  be  like  us,  and  cat  of  the  tree  of  life,  we  will 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


23 


drive  them  out  of  the  garden  of  Eden  ; we  will  keep  them  in 
ignorance ; we  will  make  them  tillers  of  the  ground.”  So 
they  invented  the  magnificent  system  of  mystery. 

Ye  find  also,  that  when  first  men  stereotyped  their  thoughts 
in  enduring  form,  as  a record  for  after  ages,  it  was  done  by 
symbols.  The  ancients  had  no  hieroglyphic  writing.  That 
was  a modern  invention,  compared  with  the  ancient  system  of 
symbol  writing.  All  the  old  monuments  bear  witness  to  this. 
Every  day,  the  sciences  and  investigations  of  men  are  disen- 
tombing and  bringing  to  light  the  fingers  with  which  man  first 
wrote,  and  the  means  by  which  man  first  preserved  the 
record  of  his  own  history.  In  the  midst  of  all  these  remains 
you  find  that  there  was  a system  of  symbol  writing,  some 
of  which  we  shall  now  present  to  you. 

The  ancients  represented  innocence,  in  their  typical  lan- 
guage, as  a garden,  or  rather,  they  called  it  the  garden  of 
innocence.  The  garden  was  the  first  state  of  earth  ; the 
garden  was  the  condition  of  innocent  ignorance,  in  which  the 
people  were  anxious  for  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 
The  tree,  with  its  fruit,  was  ever  the  symbol  of  knowledge  ; 
the  serpent,  as  we  have  stated,  was  ever  the  symbol  of  temp- 
tation and  sin.  Woman,  with  her  quick  intuition  and  eager 
spirit  of  inquiry,  was  always  represented  as  the  tempter. 

The  nations  began  to  inquire,  “ Why  are  we  sorrowful  ? 
and  why  are  we  unhappy  ? alas  !”  they  said,  “ it  is  the  temp- 
tation of  the  dark  and  fatal  spirits  of  winter.  Why  are  these 
antagonistic  ?”  They  could  not  admit  that  their  God  was 
not  all-powerful.  Therefore,  they  must  represent  that  a 
secondary  principle  was  the  author  of  evil.  They  said  their 
God  was  good  ; their  mighty  Sun-God  was  all  goodness. 
Nevertheless  there  was  an  antagonistic  principle.  They  said  V 
there  was  a tempter.  They  said,  “ the  angels  fell  from  their 
first  estate ; they  were  once  like  our  Sun-God,  good,  and  our 
God  ever  conflicts  with  them,  and  eventually  will  overcome 
them  by  the  power  of  summer.  They  said  there  was  the  same 
conflict  in  the  human  mind,  between  the  powers  of  good  and 
evil.  Hence,  they  represented  this  by  what,  in  modern  times, 


24 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


ye  term  the  “ fall  of  man.”  This  was  nothing  more  than  a 
fable,  which  the  ancients  desired  to  render  typical  of  the  con- 
flict between  good  and  evil  in  man.  They  said,  “ when  man 
ceased  to  be  ignorant,  and  therefore  innocent — when  he  ate 
of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil — when  he  could 
discriminate  between  good  and  evil,  then  did  he  become 
responsible  for  sin.”  You  will  find  that  the  story  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  the  tale  of  Paradise,  and  the  expulsion  of  its 
first  inhabitants,  instead  of  being  first  written  by  Moses,  was 
written  some  four  thousand  years  before  Moses  lived.  Monu- 
ments that  are  now*  standing,  great  stones,  piled  in  mighty 
and  enduring  grandeur,  solemn  temples,  bear  a record  which 
time  cannot  efface,  which  all  your  theology  cannot  demolish. 
They  uprear  their  great  black  fingers  and  point  to  this  enor- 
mous, indestructible  fact.  The  garden  of  Eden,  with  all  its 
symbolical  significance,  was  not  the  revelation  of  the  Lord  to 
Moses,  but  the  simple  idea  of  the  ancients,  signifying  the 
origin  of  man,  who  has  come  up  from  a state  of  ignorance  to 
a state  of  knowledge,  and  consequently  to  the  temptation, 
which  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  offered  to  him. 

And  this  was  the  origin  of  one  idea — that  of  the  knowledge 
and  the  conflict  of  good  and  evil.  You  behold  it  night  after 
night,  when  you  gaze  upon  God’s  eternal  scriptures,  written 
with  his  own  fingers  of  light,  and  stereotyped  in  characters 
as  immutable  as  the  changeless  One  himself.  There  is  not  a 
form  of  religion,  not  a system,  call  we  it  Christianity,  or  by 
any  other  name,  but  what  was  born  of  the  astronomical  sys- 
tems of  the  ancients. 

Permit  us  to  trace  them  a little  farther.  We  find  that  the 
superb  dynasties  of  India  and  Egypt  enlarged  upon  the  astro- 
nomical systems  of  the  ancients.  They,  too,  had  their  powers 
of  good  and  evil.  They  had  precisely  the  same  priests — pre- 
cisely the  same  fasts.  We  trace,  then,  a little  later  down  in 
the  histories  and  mysteries  of  the  Egyptian  and  other  nations. 

The  Brahmins  were  a powerful  order  of  priest’s,  who  ever 
kept  the  people  in  ignorance  and  subjection.  All  their  forms 
and  ceremonies  were  solemn  mysteries.  The  people  stood 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


25 

without  the  veil,  and  were  unable,  or  rather,  were  not  per- 
mitted to  comprehend  the  simplest  thing,  unless  through  the 
interpretation  of  the  priests.  “ Our  God  is  a mystery,”  they 
said,  “ you  must  not  inquire  into  the  mysteries  that  belong  to 
him.”  Later  down  we  find  that  the  Egyptians  instituted  the 
most  solemn  of  mysteries.  Permit  us  to  give  you  evidence 
of  some  of  these  far-famed  mysteries.  And  remember,  for 
whatever  we  present  to  you,  we  offer  no  spiritual  authority  ; 
no  “ Thus  saith  the  Lord”  addresses  you  this  day.  We  come 
before  the  books  of  the  universe.  We  may  drink  from  the 
fountains  of  all  knowledge.  Do  you  understand  their  import 
and  their  truth  ? The  books  are  open  for  you  to  drink  of 
them.  In  any  case,  we  stand  ready  to  prove  the  truth  of  any 
statement  made  this  day. 

We  find  that  one  of  the  most  solemn  mysteries  of  the 
Egyptians,  was  that  of  Osiris,  the  Sun-God  of  every  other 
nation.  They  said  this  was  the  principle  of  good.  They 
also  claimed  that  there  was  a destroying  power  called  Typhon. 
With  him  Osiris  constantly  conflicted.  Osiris  was  not  the 
great  Creator,  but  simply  the  son  of  God,  or  the  Incarnation, 
— for,  be  it  remembered,  every  nation  had  its  incarnate  gods. 
The  Indians  had  theirs ; the  Persians  had  theirs  ; the  Egyp- 
tians had  theirs  ; the  Greeks  and  Romans  theirs  ; and,  unfor- 
tunately for  some  systems,  these  incarnations  lived  to  write 
their  history  and  stereotype  their  Scriptures,  ages  before  the 
Jews  ever  lived  as  a nation.  They  are  represented  in  the 
tale  of  the  Hindoo  Vishnu  and  his  nine  avatars.  They  are 
found  in  the  story  of  Osiris.  They  said,  when  the  earth  was 
full  of  famine  and  pestilence,  when  storm  and  desolation  were 
rife,  the  beneficent  Jupiter  sent  his  mighty  son,  the  Great 
Osiris,  down  to  earth.  He  was  the  last  and  best  of  all  the 
incarnations  that  ever  appeared.  He  ran  his  race  among 
men ; gave  them  glorious  laws,  wise  and  beneficent  institu- 
tions; bade  them  beware  of  priests  and  their  systems  ; talked 
as  never  man  talked  before.  But  at  last  he  was  conquered 
by  the  power  of  Typhon,  the  Destroyer.  Then  the  earth  was 
in  mourning.  Then,  for  three  long  days,  Isis,  the  mother 


26 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


mourned  her  Sun-God  lost.  At  last  she  found  him  on  the 
twenty-fifth  day  of  December.  He  appeared  once  more  in 
the  heavens,  in  all  the  solemn  glory  of  resurrected  life.  This 
was  the  great  mystery  of  Isis  and  Osiris.  In  celebrating 
these  mysteries,  the  priests  required  immense  wealth.  The 
people  must  bring  of  all  their  treasures ; a share  of  all  their 
splendor  and  wealtli  must  be  laid  at  the  feet  of  the  priests, 
and  woe  betide  those  who  denied  to  these  mediators  between 
the  Creator  and  the  creature,  of  their  wealth  and  substance. 
That  the  people  might  not  be  acquainted  with  these  tilings, 
which  were  nothing  more  nor  less  than  types  of  the  passage 
of  the  sun  or  soul  through  the  various  conflicting  periods  of 
good  and  evil,  the  priests  invented  these  mysteries.  They 
taught  to  adore  the  stars,  and  fire,  and  trees,  and  the  powers 
of  nature ; but  they  kept  to  themselves  the  fact  that  the 
powers  of  nature  were  subordinate  to  one  mighty  God.  They 
formed  these  mysteries,  therefore,  for  their  own  especial 
benefit.  One  of  the  most  solemn  of  their  sacraments  was 
that  of  sacrifice.  They  taught  them  that  every  sin  ipust  have 
its  penalty.  They  were  the  first  observers  of  nature.  They 
founded  their  religion  in  nature,  although  they  taught  all  the 
people  to  depart  from  it.  They  observed  that  everything  in 
nature  produced  its  unalterable  conflict.  They  said,  44  Oh 
people,  you  are  sinners  ; you  must  pay  a penalty,  and  if  you 
pay  the  penalty  to  the  priests,  you  may  escape  it  yourselves.” 
By  sacrifice,  they  meant  that  the  penalty  should  be  paid  in 
something  else  than  suffering.  Hitherto,  the  people  had 
thought  that  if  they  did  wrong,  the  consequent  suffering  must 
fall  upon  themselves ; but  the  priests,  by  an  ingenious  system 
of  sacrifices,  offered  the  people  immunity  for  sins.  We  tell 
you  no  fiction.  You  will  not  find  a single  religion  on  the  earth 
but  what  claims  that  sacrifices  are  a means  of  atonement  for 
sins  ; not  one  in  which  sacrifices  are  not  the  means  by  which 
the  power  and  splendor  of  the  priests  and  their  government 
over  the  people  are  chiefly  sustained. 

Another  great  sacrament  was  the  last  and  most  famous 
mystery  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  since  adopted  by  the  Greeks  and 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


27 


the  Romans,  called  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries.  This  was  the 
dark  and  awful  worship  paid  to  the  powers  of  nature.  They 
claimed  that  the  earth  was  represented  by  Ceres.  They 
claimed  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  Sun-God  must  be  given  in  win- 
ter, that  the  people  might  have  the  glorious  light  of  the  resur- 
rected god  of  summer.  They  must  bring  wine,  which  they 
said  was  born  of  the  glorious,  beneficent  sun-light.  They 
called  this  the  power  of  the  risen  god  of  day,  and  they  drank 
the  wine  in  honor  of  his  memory.  This  was  the  last  of  the 
famous  mysteries  of  Osiris.  They  said,  “ Those  who  partake 
of  this  sacrament  are  made  whole,  as  our  Sun-God,  our  Osiris, 
our  Dionysius,  has  died  for  you.  As  the  great  sacrifice  is 
paid,  drink  of  this  and  you  are  free  from  sin.”  Friends,  we 
desire  to  make  no  modern  application  ; we  only  tell  you  of 
the  solemn  customs  and  systems  of  the  ancients. 

The  next  nations  that  arose  in  order,  were  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  and  the  last,  the  Jews.  With  the  institution  of 
Judaism,  we  find  that  Moses,  who  was  learned  in  all  the  wis- 
dom of  the  Egyptians  and  their  systems  of  priestcraft — Moses, 
the  wise,  the  inspired,  the  noble,  the  beneficent  law-giver  of 
Israel,  desired  to  liberate  the  people  ; he  sought  to  eman- 
cipate them  from  the  tremendous  systems  of  mystery  in  which 
they  had  hitherto  been  bound  down.  He  cried  out  to  the 
people,  and  he  said  to  others,  “ Run  and  prophesy  !”  Would 
God  that  all  God’s  people  were  priests.  His  noble  aim  was 
to  make  every  man  his  own  priest.  He  sought  to  break  down 
the  veil  of  mystery,  and  once  more  restore  the  knowledge  of 
God  through  nature.  He  strove  to  unlock  and  disentangle 
all  the  various  systems  which  priests  had  dragged  around  the 
people.  Unhappily,  priestcraft  was  too  remunerative,  too 
lucrative  for  even  Moses  to  destroy  it.  The  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  Aaron  and  Moses,  and  the  various  Levites  who  followed 
in  his  track,  were  not  disposed  to  relinquish  the  powers  which, 
for  untold  ages,  the  priests  of  the  earth  had  exercised  over 
men.  But  we  would  have  ye  remark  one  point  in  Jewish 
history : the  priests  stand  on  one  side,  and  the  prophets  on 
the  other.  Not  from  the  lips  of  the  sublime  Isaiah,  not  from 


28 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION, 


Jeremiah,  not  from  Joel,  nor  Micah,  nor  any  of  the  prophets, 
do  you  Jind  mystery.  The  worship  of  the  one  true  God  ; the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil ; the  teaching  that,  if  you  eat 
the  sour  grapes,  your  own  teeth  shall  be  set  on  edge — this 
you  find  in  the  first  chapter  of  Isaiah — that  He  asks  no  burnt 
offerings ; that  your  new  moons  and  your  Sabbaths  are  an 
abomination  unto  me ; He  asks  that  your  hands  may  be  washed 
white,  pure  and  undefiled  ; He  asks  only  for  the  broken  heart 
and  the  contrite  spirit ; the  spirit  shall  be  before  the  flesh  ; 
your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  prophesy,  and  upon  your 
servants  and  handmaids — upon  the  basest  and  lowest  of  the 
lost  nations  of  earth,  the  spirit  of  the  one  living  God  shall 
be  poured  out  pure  and  undefiled. 

There  stand  in  mighty  array  these  solemn  old  prophets,  with 
sublime  utterance,  calling  on  the  people  to  offer  up  no  more 
impure  physical  substances,  no  more  vain  oblations — spelling 
out  the  future  and  proclaiming  it  to  the  people,  and  calling 
for  justice  to  Babylon,  the  mother  of  harlots  and  abomina- 
tions in  the  world  ; there  they  stand,  the  prophets  in  long  array 
on  the  one  side,  and  the  white-robed  priests  on  the  other  side  ; 
the  priests  darkening  the  minds  of  the  people  with  their  fasts 
and  sacrifices,  their  phylacteries  and  their  long  prayers  and 
loud  amens,  their  greeting  in  the  market-place,  their  syna- 
gogues, their  times  and  their  seasons,  their  new  moons  and 
their  Sabbaths.  Can  you  reconcile  the  simple  and  sublime 
teaching  of  these  ancient  prophets,  with  their  unshod  feet, 
and  wild  hair  streaming  in  the  winds,  their  coarse  garments, 
and  their  fearless  'voices,  making  a temple  of  every  hill-top 
and  every  wall,  of  every  highway  and  byway,  with  the  solemn 
pomp  of  the  priest  who,  in  stately  ceremony,  waits  upon  the 
Lord,  in  temples  made  with  hands,  and  who  claims  that  a 
sacred  mystery  enwraps  his  dogmas  and  runs  down  in  the 
anointed  oil  which  was  poured  upon  bodies  of  wood  and  stone. 

Another  great  assistance  to  priestcraft  and  mystery  was 
found  in  their  manner  of  teaching  the  words  of  the  poor  and 
simple  One  of  Nazareth.  No  mysteries  were  in  his  teach- 
ings ; but  one  law  and  one  commandment ; how  then  dare  ye 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


29 


make  Thirty-Nine  Articles  out  of  it  ? But  one  system  and 
practice.  How  dare  ye  make  three  thousand  and  more  sects 
of  Christianity?  But  one  great  church  — the  church  of  the 
Universe.  How  dare  ye  claim  that  salvation  belongs  to  your 
temple,  which  ye  framed  with  human  hands,  and  is  not  to  be 
found  outside  of  it  ? But  one  God,  and  he  your  God  and 
Father.  Oh  human  fathers  I listen  to  the  cry  of  that  little 
babe,  [alluding  to  the  cry  of  a child  in  the  audience,]  listen 
to  that  little  child’s  tongue ; that  sound  which  now  breaks 
upon  your  ears  is  the  song  of  Paradise  to  some  mother’s  heart. 
There  is  not,  in  the  long  array  of  all  past  ages,  any  sound 
that  falls  upon  the  ear  of  the  mother  of  that  lisping  child  so 
precious,  so  sweet,  as  that  little  prattling  tongue.  Ask  her 
whether  she  could  see  that  simple  child  — that  little  waxen, 
tender  form,  that  now  clings  to  her  with  such  love,  cast  into 
broiling  flames  and  leaping  fire,  whilst  she  herself  reposed 
in  the  glory  of  a power  and  splendor  even  divine ; ask  her 
what  sacrifice  she  would  not  make  to  shelter  that  precious 
child  from  suffering ; ask  her  what  moment  of  day  or  night 
she  grudges  wearisome  toil  and  patient  waiting  upon  that 
little  being ; ask  her  if  she  would  not  go  hungry  and  cold, 
houseless  and  wandering,  that  that  child  might  be  cared  for. 
And  if  such  is  the  love  of  the  human  mother,  do  you  pretend  to 
say  you  are  better  than  your  God  ? Aye,  do  you  not  in  your 
own  hearts  quail  as  you  would  take  vengeance  upon  an  enemy 
when  you  have  him  helpless  at  your  feet  ? Because  your 
human  heart  will  not  allow  you  to  take  vengeance  on  him,  do 
you  not  let  the  sinner  go  free,  and  cry,  “ vengeance  is  mine, 
saith  the  Lord  ” ? That  which  you  are  ashamed  or  afraid  to 
do, you  believe  your  God  — your  heavenly  Father  — will  do! 
You  are  better  than  your  religion ; you  are  not  better  than 
your  God.  Go  back  and  repeat  the  aim  q^id  teachings  of 
Him  whom  you  call  the  founder  of  your  religion.  He  taught 
noble  truths;  He  taught  a religion  of  love — “love  one  an- 
other.” Contemplate  no  religion,  no  worship,  but  that  worship 
which  the  child  offers  when  he  cries  “ Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven.”  In  those  words  was  a mighty  blow  given  to  priest- 


30 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


craft ; that  is  the  great  lesson  of  the  Divine  Teacher  ; that  is 
the  Bible  ; that  is  the  Gospel  realized  ; that  is  the  church  — 
the  great  church  of  humanity  ;•  that  is  the  altar  of  the  pure 
and  undefiled  human  heart. 

Again,  we  find  that  when  Christ  and  Moses,  Osiris  and 
Buddha,  and  Zoroaster,  and  all  the  other  teachers  of  ancient 
times,  came  and  broke  the  chains  of  priestcraft,  the  priests 
at  once  began  to  forge  them  stronger.  After  the  days  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  within  three  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years  from  the  time  he  suffered  on  the  dreadful  cross,  to  prove 
to  man  the  solemn  fact  that  there  was  but  one  God,  one  Father, 
one  commandment,  more  than  three  hundred  priests  gathered 
together  to  settle  what  men  should  believe  and  what  they 
should  say  in  order  to  be  saved  ; and  then  came  forth  their 
Thirty-Nine  Articles ; then  came  forth  their  creeds  and 
systems  ; until,  at  this  day  of  the  Lord,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  there  have  been  more  than  three  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine  sects  of  Christianity,  all  claiming,  not 
to  interpret  the  one  law  and  the  one  commandment  of  what 
we  shall  do,  but  all  claiming  to  give  new  laws  and  new  com- 
mandments of  what  we  shall  say  — not  one  of  which  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  ever  taught,  or  commanded  to  be  taught. 

Oh  Mystery ! thou  art  indeed  the  mother  of  the  abomina- 
tions of  the  earth.  So  it  comes  to  pass,  at  this  day,  ;that 
when  man  oppresses  his  fellow  man,  when  the  strong  hand 
holds  the  feeble  in  captivity,  and  the  world  asks  of  him  the 
reason,  he  says  he  is  strong,  and  the  Lord  has  made  him  so, 
and  his  victim  is  weak,  and  the  Lord  has  made  him  so. 
When  you  ask  if  the  Father  of  the  race  is  a partial  God, 
they  reply  to  you,  “ It  is  a great  mystery,  and  you  must 
not  inquire  into  things  that  belong  to  God.”  And  so  it 
comes  to  pass,  that  when  a bad  man  closes  a bad  life,  and 
says  a few  solemn  words,  and  confesses  bad  mathematics  — 
that  three  arc  one,  and  one  is  three — lo  ! the  man  goes 
straight  to  heaven.  And  when  the  poor,  toiling  sons  of 
earth  cannot  believe  in  bad  mathematics,  and  ask  why  these 
tilings  arc,  the  priests  solemnly  tell  them,  “ It  is  a 
mystery ; it  is  of  the  unseen  things  that  belong  to  God.” 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


81 


And  when  brave  and  noble-ininded  men,  determining  that  the 
people  shall  know  for  themselves,  endeavor  to  invent  a system 
by  which  these  words,  and  any  words,  the  knowledge,  reli- 
gion, science,  and  learning  of  all  ages,  can  become  the 
property  of  all  men  — when  they  put  God’s  wood,  and  stone, 
and  iron,  and  brass  together,  and  by  virtue  of  God’s  thoughts 
invented  the  printing  press,  these  champions  of  crime  and 
mystery  cry  out,  “ It  is  the  work  of  the  Evil  One.”  And 
when  men  ask,  “ Can  the  Evil  One  bring  forth  the  fruits  of 
light  and  knowledge  ?”  the  priests  reply,  “ These  things  are 
a mystery.”  So  with  every  invention  ; so  with  every  step 
science  has  taken.  With  all  the  efforts  of  man,  inspired  by 
his  Maker  to  spell  out  the  Scriptures  of  his  works,  uprise  the 
priests  of  mystery  and  say,  “ Let  there  be  light,  says  God ; 
let  there  be  no  light,  says  man.” 

Oh  mystery  I can  there  be  truth  and  mystery  together  ? Is 
it  a possibility  that  God’s  works,  if  he  be  our  Father,  shall 
be  a mystery  to  us,  his  children  ? Men  and  spirits,  mortals 
and  immortals,  alike  are  claimed  to  be  his  work  — to  partake 
of  his  nature.  All  are  from  him,  and  share  in  the  attributes 
of  his  nature  ; and  yet  ye  claim  that  a Father  draws  the  veil 
of  mystery  between  himself  and  his  children ! Sects  and 
creeds,  dogmas  and  systems,  whence  do  you  come  ? From 
the  astronomical  religion  of  the  ancients.  Sacrifices  came  with 
a necessity  of  worldly  men  to  draw  wealth  from  the  people. 
Long  fasts,  solemn,  pompous  garments,  wide  surplices, 
invented  by  Isis  to  designate  her  priests  ; bells  and  candles, 
and  every  external  form  that  remains  to  typify  that  God  who 
cannot  be  symbolized — that  God  who  is  outside  of  and  above 
all  form  — that  Almighty,  Everlasting  Presence  that  pervades 
all  things,  and  cannot  be  limited  down  to  one  particle  ; all 
these  things  are  but  Paganism — the  fruit  of  the  abominations 
of  Babylon  the  Great. 

It  is  our  privilege,  as  our  parting  words,  to  re-echo  the  cry 
of  the  ancient  of  days:  “Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen,  is 
fallen.”  He  who  cried  “ Let  there  be  light,”  and  there  was 
light,  speaks  to-day,  as  he  spoke  *millions  of  ages  in  the  past, 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


and  will,  according  to  the  capacity  of  the  eye  of  humanity  to 
receive  the  light,  ever  speak  to  the  people.  A great  light 
has  dawned  on  the  gross  darkness  of  this  age.  That  light  is 
rising.  Is  it  necessary  to  be  a fool,  to  believe  in  a religion  ? 
Is  it  necessary  to  be  wholly  ignorant — to  darken  and  exclude 
all  science — to  throw  out  the  demonstrations  of  God’s  works, 
before  you  can  receive  the  testimony  of  what  man  calls  the 
Word  ? And  yet  ye  must  be  this  if  God’s  works  and  God’s 
Word  stand  in  antagonism.  There  they  arc — the  mighty 
sun,  the  seasons,  the  tempests,  the  great  storms  of  the  ocean, 
and  on  the  broad  bosom  of  the  lakes ; there  they  are — the 
noble  forest  cathedrals,  the  splendid  monumental  ruins,  the 
wildly  beautiful  fires  of  the  skies  ; there  they  are,  night  after 
night,  those  hosts  of  shining  worlds,  like  the  troops  of  God’s 
great  army,  the  fiery  squadrons  of  his  troops,  marching  up 
to  their  places  in  heaven’s  wide  field,  unalterable,  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  forever.  Oh,  go  to  these;  search  these  scrip- 
tures of  the  universe,  written  before  these  scriptures  in  your 
hand  were  written.  That  book  was  not  written  when  he  who 
spake  these  words  told  you  to  search  the  scriptures.  It  is 
the  scriptures  of  God’s  own  gospel  you  must  search.  There  ' 
is  the  knowledge  of  life,  which  will  end  the  reign  of  mystery  ; 
for  mystery  is  nothing  more  than  an  attempt  on  the  part  of 
some  man  who  knows  more  than  yourselves,  to  keep  you  in 
ignorance.  There  is  no  mystery,  save  your  own  ignorance, 
and  your  submission  or  tyranny  one  to  another.  All  the 
wonders  of  the  Almighty’s  gospel  have  unrolled  themselves 
in  the  light  of  knowledge,  or  are  now  becoming  manifest  to 
the  investigating  spirit  of  man.  Fire,  water,  air,  the  myste- 
rious atmosphere,  the  powers,  the  elements  and  forces  of 
nature,  have  each  yielded  up  their  secrets  to  the  subtle  and 
resistless  grasp  of  man.  But  the  last  great  veil  of  mystery  is 
breaking  last.  The  great  seventh  seal,  that  so  long  has  hid- 
den the  word  of  God,  is  being  broken,  and  the  destiny  of 
man,  the  knowledge  of  God  being  revealed  ; the  veil  is  rent 
in  twain.  Christ,  one  day,  rent  the  veil  of  earthly  infirmity 
from  the  obscured  eyes  of  the  faithful  few  who  crowded 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


83 


around  him,  and  they  recognized  him,  and  knew  that  those 
who  had  seen  the  God-man — the  son  of  God — had  seen  God 
the  Father.  He  rent  the  veil  of  mystery  when,  on  the  Mount 
of  Transfiguration,  he  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  Almighty 
was  the  God  of  the  living,  not  the  God  of  the  dead  ; that  the 
living  are  to  be  his  ministering  spirits  ; that  they  can  and  do 
come  to  earth ; that  these  are  the  ministers  of  light  and 
knowledge,  who,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  have  gone  forth  to 
minister  to  the  heirs  of  salvation.  He  rent  the  veil  of  mys- 
tery when  he  told  you  that  these  heirs  of  salvation  were  the 
good  and  the  evil,  the  just  and  the  unjust;  — that  even 
though  the  worst  of  prodigals,  when  men  rejected  him,  there 
was  a father  to  whom  he  could  say  : “ I will  arise  and  go  to 
my  father,  though  man  rejects  me  ; in  his  dear  arms  shall  I 
find  refuge.” 

Man  has  drawn  the  limit  of  the  faith  of  the  soul  closer ; he 
has  cramped  it  in  the  form  of  an  authority,  which,  in  the 
words  u Thus  saith  the  Lord,”  have  bound  the  people  down 
beneath  the. weight  and  darkness  of  mystery.  Again  we  pro- 
claim, Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen,  is  fallen.  The  trumpet 
notes  sounded  by  the  angel  of  prophetic  vision,  have  gone 
forth  once  again ; the  nations  are  free ; the  awakened 
spirit  of  man  arises  in  its  original  dignity  and  energy  ; the 
universe  is  opening  to  our  view ; the  spirit  of  God  is  coming 
down  among  men,  and  the  spirit  of  man  is  ascending  to  the 
knowledge  of  heavenly  things. 

We  do  not,  at  this  time,  propose  to  answer  any  questions. 
We  leave  your  thought  to  revolve  the  statements  we  have 
made,  this  night  holding  ourself  prepared  to  answer  any 
inquiries.  To-night  we  propose  to  speak  of  the  gospel  of 
nature.  As  we  have  shown  you  the  past,  we  design  to  open 
another  view  of  the  true  and  sacred  religion  of  the  earth.- 
And  who  is  there  that  it  does  not  concern  ? That  lisping 
child  is  now  a spirit  incarnate  in  the  flesh.  It  will  engrave 
upon  the  spirit  its  acts  and  deeds.  As  ye  think,  so  will  ye 
act.  If  ye  think  justly,  think  truly,  think  rightly,  so  will 
your  spirit  take  its  impress,  purified  and  upright.  A heaven 
3 


34 


ASTRONOMICAL  RELIGION. 


will  you  carry  within  you — a heaven  of  innocence  and  truth, 
even  as  that  lisping  little  one. 

These  words,  if  they  be  true,  shall  be  to  you  the  words  of 
eternal  life;  if  they  be  false,  fear  not,  they  must  perish. 
We  claim  that  ere  you  go  forth  to  your  Monday’s  work — ere 
ye  once  more  approach  the  altars  of  trade  and  commerce  to 
devote  yourselves  to  the  gods  of  dollars  and  cents,  you  have 
the  right  to  ask  and  to  know  what  they  will  do  for  ye  in 
another  life.  The  tale  may  have  been  often  repeated  to  you, 
but  at  least  we  shall  have  the  satisfaction,  not  only  of  offering 
the  story  once  again,  but  the  best  reasons  why  you  should  at 
once  accept  the  truth,  and  make  it  a part  of  your  own  lives 
by  acting  it  out.  This  shall  be  our  theme  this  night. 
For  the  present  hour  we  part,  commending  ourselves  to  Him, 
the  great  spirit — God,  who  needs  no  consecration  to  render 
this  building  his  temple.  Was  it  not  consecrated  by  his  chil- 
dren, who,  with  strong  arms,  and  willing  and  loving  hearts, 
toiled  in  its  erection  ? Was  it  not  consecrated  with  the 
patient  labor  that  was  striving  to  feed  the  little  ones  at  home  ? 
Was  it  not  consecrated  by  the  tender  love  of  the  laborer, 
who  was  caring  for  the  helpless  ones  dependent  on  him  ? 
Was  it  not  consecrated  when  He  made  the  atoms  of  dust,  of 
which  it  is  built  ? Every  particle  of  it  is  his  handiwork. 

Oh,  Spirit  of  God  ! Great  Father  ! we  bless  thee  that  thou 
hast  said,  “ Let  there  be  light there  shall  be  light.  To  thee 
we  consecrate  this  hour.  In  thy  dear  name  we  have  retraced 
once  more  the  work  of  man.  We  everywhere  find  thy  pre- 
cious hand,  rending  the  veil  of  mystery,  and  letting  in  the 
light  upon  the  gross  darkness  of  the  people.  For  it,  we  bless 
thy  name.  Thine  forever — forever  thine  be  the  glory  and 
the  power. 


LECTURE  SECOND. 


RELIG-ION  OF  NATURE. 


Delivered  at  Kingsbury  Hall,  Sunday  Evening,  Oct.  21,  1860. 


[ At  half  past  seven  o’clock,  Miss  Hardinge  appeared  and  resumed  as  follows : ] 

“ For  what  shall  a man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  1 ” 

It  is  this  tremendous  idea — the  possibility  of  bargaining, 
in  one  short  moment,  for  the  entire  of  eternity — it  is  this 
valuation  of  what  must  exist  forever — it  is  the  hideous  possi- 
bility of  bargaining  this  away,  which  has  placed  the  seal  of 
greatness  upon  the  name  of  religion.  It  is  because  there  is 
no  world,  nothing  within,  around  or  about  it,  that  any  man 
can  estimate  in  comparison  with  his  soul,  that  has  stamped 
this  religion,  queen  of  the  world.  Ere  we  proceed  to  offer 
some  thoughts  concerning  that  religion  of  nature  which  we 
know  to  be  destined  to  supersede  all  man-made  systems — ere 
we  unfold  to  you  the  page  of  God’s  works,  and  measure  them 
with  the  so-called  page  of  God’s  word,  permit  us  to  remind 
you  where  religion  has  stood.  Queen  of  the  universe,  before 
her  shrines,  kings,  generals,  merchants,  men  of  business 
and  men  of  leisure,  the  master  and  the  captive,  have  bowed 
down  in  every  age.  All  the  magnificent  temples  of  anti- 
quity— all  the  mighty  monuments,  whose  colossal  forms  even 
now  excite  the  amazement  of  mechanics — all  the  splendid 
dynasties  and  powerful  kingdoms  of  ancient  days — every  art 
and  every  science  in  the  days  of  their  infancy,  first  took  rise 
beneath  the  mighty  patronage  of  the  gods.  All  these  things 
bespeak  for  religion  a pomp  and  power,  a celebrity  and 


36 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


solemnity  which  no  other  element  of  life  can  rival  to-day. 
To  religion,  all  the  most  glorious  fanes  of  earth  have  been 
created.  In  the  name  of  religion,  legions  of  human  beings 
have  gone  forth  and  laid  down  their  lives.  Naught  save 
religion  could  have  stimulated  the  martyr  to  endure  the 
leaping  flame,  eating  with  fiery  agony  into  his  body,  whilst 
his  faint  lips  still  shouted  hallelujahs  to  his  God.  Nothing 
but  the  stimulus  of  religion  could  have  enabled  the  saints 
and  martyrs,  in  long  array,  through  all  the  ages,  to  endure 
the  terrors  of  hideous  death  with  the  same  joy  with  which 
they  would  have  advanced  to  the  bridal  bed.  In  a word,  the 
strongest  emotion  of  the  human  heart  is  religion.  Look 
abroad  this  day,  and  you  will  find  that  all  the  most  solemn 
temples,  the  greatest  amount  of  wealth,  and  the  largest 
aggregation  of  wealth,  influence,  and  respectability,  are 
devoted  to,  and  enshrined  in  the  name  of  religion.  Quite 
one-third  of  the  people’s  hard  earnings  arc  laid  on  the  altar 
of  religion.  The  miser  will  part  with  his  gold  for  religion, 
because  he  believes  that  in  thus  doing  he  is  purchasing  immu- 
nity from  punishment,  and  that  felicity  which  never  perishes. 
The  poor  man  is  contented  to  walk  beneath  the  shadow  of 
adversity,  and  to  battle  with,  and  bear,  up  to  his  very  lips, 
the  waves  of  suffering  flowing  around  him,  provided  you 
leave  him  the  consolations  of  religion.  The  good  and  the 
bad  shape  their  every  hope  and  every  fear  by  its  dictates  and 
influence.  All  cling,  as  their  last  refuge,  to  the  altars  of 
religion.  Thus  has  she  stood,  and  thus  will  she  stand 
forever. 

Whether  the  religions  have  been  good  or  bad,  is  not  the 
question  now.  The  great  question  is,  by  what  means  has  the 
name  of  religion  thus  usurped  the  sovereignty  of  the  whole 
earth?  The  question  might  be  answered  in  the  simple 
sentence  with  which  we  have  prefaced  this  address:  “ What 
shall  a man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul?”  To  define, 
however,  more  clearly,  the  great  secret  of  this  vast  empire 
over  humanity,  we  may  say  that  religion  consists  of  three 
elements  at  least,  and  wo  propose  now  to  give  to  the  world 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


37 


these  three  elements  : The  Knowledge  of  God — The  Immor- 
tality of  the  Soul — and  a Perfect  Standard  of  Life  Practice. 
If  you  will  consider  carefully  how  much  of  human  existence 
and  of  human  welfare  is  concentrated  in  these  three  sublime 
elements,  you  will  find  that  religion,  if  she  had  justified  her 
claims,  would  have  merited  the  lordship  over  man’s  heart. 
To  know  God,  is  to  know  the  hands  in  which  you  are  placed. 
You  find  there  an  anchor  for  every  suffering  soul — a perfect 
and  steadfast  anchor  on  wdiich  you  can  rely  in  every  condition 
of  life.  It  is  to  reconcile  all  the  inequalities,  all  the  apparent 
injustice,  and  all  the  possibilities  of  human  existence.  To 
know  God,  is  to  feel  that  you  are  in  the  hands  of  a Father ; 
it  is  to  assure  yourself  of  the  same  protection,  and  to  rely 
upon  Him  with  the  same  undoubting  love  and  confidence 
with  which  the  babe  reposes  on  its  mother’s  bosom.  To  be 
sure  of  immortality  at  once  defines  the  object  of  your  exist- 
ence, realizes  the  purpose  of  your  destiny,  unlocks  the  great 
mystery  of  why  your  life  is  open  to  a vast  vista  of  possibili- 
ties, of  hopes,  and  fears,  and  warnings,  of  attractions  and 
repulsions.  That  is  enough  of  itself  to  form  a lamp  to  your 
feet,  and  establish  you  forever  upon  a system  of  life  practice 
that  will  ensure  you  the  best  possible  condition  in  the  here- 
after. Life  practice  might  well  be  said  to  grow  out  of  those 
two  thoughts.  If  ye  know  God,  ye  have  your  model.  If  ye 
comprehend  our  God,  ye  at  once  comprehend  his  laws,  his 
purposes,  and  with  them  your  own  duties.  To  comprehend 
immortality  will  be  a perpetual  warning  to  all  your  aims  and 
efforts.  It  will  be  the  house  you  are  laboring  to  erect,  it 
will  be  the  garden  which  you  are  planting,  it  will  be  that  for 
which  you  are  laying  up  treasures.  And,  oh  Man!  out  of  all 
the  world’s  teeming  myriads,  there  are  not  as  many  hundreds 
who  believe  in  a God,  and  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  as 
there  are  millions  to  whom  these  are  the  greatest  of  eternal 
truths,  while  they  know  it  not.  If  ye  believe  in  a God,  ye 
never  could,  in  view  of  his  sublime  presence,  so  willfully 
break  the  commands  which  ye  everywhere  find  written  in 
his  laws.  Ye  could  not  put  forth  your  numberless  systems 


88 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE, 


of  religions,  and  tell  of  your  thousand  and  one  different 
gods.  Ye  could  not  worship  Him  in  the  fantastic  manner 
in  which  many  of  ye  present  your  .offerings.  Ye  could  not 
this  hour  supplicate  Him  for  sunshine  on  the  one  hand,  and 
claim  that  He  was  wise  enough  to  foresee,  direct,  and  con- 
trive the  laws  that  should  produce  the  rushing  storm  on  the 
other.  Ye  could  not  tolerate  the  spectacle  of  one  army 
praying  for  victory  over  another — one  army  undertaking  to 
slay  thousands  and  millions  of  God’s  creatures,  and  yet 
soliciting  his  blessing  to  rest  upon  their  work.  Ye  could 
not  undertake  to  place  army  against  army,  deciding  the  con- 
test, and  giving  the  victory  to  him  who  should  cry  the  loudest 
to  this  God  of  war  and  desolation.  Oh  Israel ! Israel ! how 
unequal  are  thy  ways ! 

Neither  believe  ye  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  or  if  ye 
do,  ye  do  not  manifest  it.  Ye  write  on  tomb  stones,  “ Here 
lies,”  “ Here  remains,”  “ Here  sleeps ;”  and  ye  do  this  in  view 
of  that  word  which  tells  you  of  the  God  of  the  living,  which 
manifests  the  ever-living  spirit  in  the  various  signs  of  com- 
munion where  the  mighty  dead  sit  ministering  to  Jesus  on 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration — to  John  on  the  isle  of  Pat- 
mos — to  Saul  in  the  cave  of  the  woman  of  Endor.  In  every 
condition  of  life  this  immortality  would  be  a lamp  for  your 
feet.  Ye  build  houses  for  to-morrow ; why  are  none  building 
mansions  for  eternity  ? Alas ! alas ! either  ye  do  not  believe 
what  your  religionists  teach  ye,  or  ye  fail  in  your  stand- 
ard of  life  practice.  Ye  have  your  standard,  but  unhappily 
ye  make  it  a mutable  one.  Ye  claim  the  best  and  purest 
love  to  the  world — the  simple  law  and  commandment,  do 
unto  one  another  as  ye  would  be  done  unto ; and  which 
among  ye  does  it  ? Which  of  ye  to-day  believes  in  and  acts 
upon  it,  so  long  as  there  is  any  of  your  systems,  or  any  one 
of  your  Thirty-Nine  Articles,  or  any  one  of  your  creeds,  which 
can  give  ye  immunity  for  sin,  offer  ye  a great  theological 
sponge,,  which  with  a few  words  will  wipe  it  all  away  ? In 
a word,  ye  either  make  your  religions  and  your  traditions  of 
none  effect,  or  else  ye  do  not  believe  in  them.  Nevertheless, 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


89 


religion  exists.  Religion  has  been,  in  one  shape  or  another, 
the  ruling  principle  of  man’s  heart.  He  has  clung  to  it 
because  he  believed  it  was  to  give  him  the  priceless  treasure 
of  his  immortal  soul.  And  religion  will  exist ; and  that  too 
upon  precisely  the  same  elements  as  she  has  hitherto  pro- 
fessed to  give  you. 

We  now  proceed  to  inquire  where  this  conqueror  and 
controller  of  human  destiny  can  be  found  ; where  we 
shall  be  enabled  to  trace  out  that  God,  whom  the  prophet 
of  olden  times  claimed  was  as  high  as  heaven  and  as  deep  as 
hell.  Surely,  surely,  somewhere  in  the  works  of  the  Maker 
we  shall  find  him,  or  we  shall  hear  him  in  the  still,  small 
voice.  If  we  speak  to  the.  prophets  of  ancient  times,  we 
shall  hear  news  of  this  far-off  God.  We  observe  that  there 
can  be  but  two  means  by  which  we  can  attain  to  an  appre- 
hension of  that  which  clearly  transcends  man’s  own  ability 
to  spell  out.  In  the  human  heart,  or  in  the  human  brain,  the 
evidence  of  that  which  is  past  and  that  which  is  to  come, 
does  not  exist.  There  is  not  one  among  ye,  who,  without 
the  exercise  of  his  senses,  can  undertake  to  tell  what  has 
passed  in  the  very  moment  that  has  fled,  outside  of  his  own 
sphere  of  observation.  How,  by  searching,  do  ye  propose  to 
find  out  the  God  of  all  ages  past  ? There  is  not  one  among 
ye,  who,  by  the  exercise  of  the  faculties  you  now  possess, 
can  undertake  to  read  the  future  with  such  accuracy  as  to 
determine,  when,  or  how,  or  whether  at  all,  your  mortal  feet 
shall  bear  ye  from  where  ye  now  sit,  to  that  door.  How, 
then,  by  searching,  do  ye  expect  to  find  out  that  immortality 
ye  have  never  tried  ? There  must  be  some  other  way  than 
by  the  exercise  of  that  which  ye  term  your  reason.  Reli- 
gionists know  this,  and  therefore  they  have  protected  their 
systems  by  claiming  that  they  come  from  the  ministry  of 
angels  — from  spirits  who  know  of  God,  and  are  in  the  expe- 
rience of  immortality.  There  is  not  a system  on  the  known 
earth,  but  what  has  founded  itself  upon  what  is  termed  the 
revelation  of  spiritual  beings.  This  revelation  must  in  itself 
contain  evidence.  But  can  this  define  the  conditions  of  all 


40 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


times  and  of  all  ages  ? Are  the  witnesses  of  eighteen  hun- 
dred or  two  thousand  years  ago  reliable  ? Let  us  examine 
their  claim.  The  prophets  — who  believed  them?  who 
accepted  their  report  ? They  were  hunted  from  society, 
scorned  and  persecuted,  outcasts,  driven  to  the  wilds  and 
deserts,  men  of  caves  and  forests,  of  plain  and  wilderness. 
Those  who  surrounded  them  did  not  accept  of  their  evidence. 
We  are  told  that,  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  eleven  men 
saw  a spirit ; and  this  is  the  evidence  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  Out  of  the  eleven,  some  worshiped  and  some 
doubted;  and  among  the  whole  eleven  witnesses,  not  one 
was  found  true  enough,  careful  enough,  patient  enough,  strong 
enough,  to  stand  by  their  master  in  his  hour  of  agony.  They 
all  forsook  him  and  fled.  And  upon  the  uncertain  testimony 
of  these  faithless  followers,  even  divided  among  themselves 
when  the  risen  spirit  stood  before  them,  you  are  to  pin  your 
faith  for  all  future  ages.  Such  is  the  revelation  these  systems 
present  to  you.  Where  these  systems  came  from,  we  this  day 
traced ; what  they  were,  we  showed  you.  To-night  it  will 
be  our  purpose  to  offer  ye  a wider  system  of  revelation,  and 
a standard  that  cannot  vary. 

We  claim  that  there  are  "two  modes  of  arriving  at  the  same 
conclusion : the  one  by  the  works  of  the  Maker  p the  other 
by  his  Word.  The  works  we  shall  consider  first.  We  search 
for  God.  Let  us  take  the  tree — that  is  enough.  We  find 
evidence  there  of  design,  intelligence,  wisdom,  love,  power. 
There  is  not  a blade  of  grass,  nor  a forest  tree,  that  does  not 
manifest  all  these.  We  do  not  now  take  the  telescope,  and 
ask  you  to  gaze  upon  the  multitude  of  shining  worlds  that 
night  by  night  troop  up  to  manifest  the  immensity  of  God’s 
handiwork.  We  take  the  small  blade  of  grass,  the  leaf  of 
the  forest  tree.  We  perceive  here  an  order,  a system  of 
calculation,  a design.  We  perceive  that  that  design  is  good. 
It  means  shelter ; it  means  use;  it  means  beauty.  Every  por- 
tion of  that  familiar,  yet  strangely-devised,  little  structure  is 
good  for  man  ; good  for  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  good  for 
the  beasts  of  the  field.  We  take  the  grains  of  sand  by  the 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


41 


sea  shore  ; they  all  tell  the  same  tale.  We  take  the  leaf  of 
the  ancient  forest  tree.  Millions  of  years  have  rolled  over 
thy  head,  oh  mighty  forest  tree  ! and  yet  thou  art  living 
still.  Untold  ages  ago,  we  see  thy  head,  oh  dark  and  ancient 
fern  ! raised  up  into  the  thick,  dusky  atmosphere.  Man  nor 
beast  was  there  to  behold  thee  in  thy  solitary  grandeur.  Earth 
was  yet  fresh  from  its  birth,  in  that  awful  hour  when  it  rose 
from  the  deep  that  was  without  form  and  void.  Thou  wert 
the  first  of  these  ancient,  marvellous  monarchs  of  the  forest, 
through  which  the  desolate  winds  swept — the  only  sound 
then  heard  on  the  unpeopled  earth.  The  time  came  when  the 
great  ocean  passed  over  thy  head,  when  the  huge  billows  of 
ancient  seas  bore  thee  down  and  crushed  thee,  deep,  deep, 
beneath  their  leaping  waves.  There  didst  jhou  lie,  ancient 
forest  fern,  for  untold  ages.  At  length  came  the  sun  and  the 
winds,  and  at  length  the  waves  of  ocean  receded  once  more. 
And  now,  oh  tree  ! peat,  and  bog,  and  moss  accumulate  and 
pile  in  irregular  mass,  where  once  the  ancient  forest  tree 
was  found.  More  changes;  more  years;  more  leaping 
surges ; more  receding  seas  ; strong  and  mighty  winds  ; great 
tempests ; blackness,  and  storms,  and  desolating  ages,  as  the 
earth  grows  older,  until  at  last  the  place  of  thy  dwelling  is 
found  no  more  ; and  great  mountains  uprear  their  rocky, 
everlasting  heads,  where  once,  thou,  forest  fern,  wert  the 
only  inhabitant.  And  now  comes  busy  man,  with  pick,  and 
spade,  and  mattock,  delving  into  the  heart  of  the  ancient 
mountain,  and  lo  ! he  finds  that  in  the  still  lapse  of  ages, 
while  imbedded  in  earth’s  mystic  laboratory,  the  forest  tree, 
that  so  long  battled  with  the  elements,  has  undergone  a won- 
drous transmutation. 

“ Nothing  of  it  that  doth  fade, 

But  doth  suffer  a sea-change, 

Into  something  rich  and  strange.” 

Th^  delicate  fern  leaf  has  become  a solid  mineral.  The  blos- 
som and  the  branch  are  transformed  into  the  useful  coal, 
stored  up  for  man’s  necessity.  He  digs  them  up ; he  carries 
them  to  his  home ; and,  in  the  light  and  warmth  they  diffuse 


42 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE, 


through  his  household,  in  the  sunny  smile  of  love,  and  the 
bright  eye  of  beauty,  their  ancient  glory  is  rekindled.  If  not 
this,  he  fills  the  great  furnaces  with  the  dense  and  ponderous 
relics  of  the  ancient  forest,  from  which  comes  forth  the  steam- 
ing gas  to  be  conducted  into  the  blaze  that  now  lights  these 
mortal  eyes  [pointing  to  the  gas-burner,  immediately  in  front]. 
There  art  thou  gleaming,  ancient  forest  fern ; in  every  par- 
ticle of  leaping  flame,  a portion  of  thy  life  is  to  be  found. 
Oh,  little  flame  ! is  thy  existence  ended  yet  ? With  every 
moment  of  thy  fiery  life,  thou  art  .passing  into  the  atmosphere. 
Thou  art  penetrating  all  the  chinks  and  crannies  of  the  heart 
and  frame  of  man.  He  breathes  thee  ; he  assimilates  thee, 
with  every  portion  of  his  structure  ; he  builds  up  a temple  to 
the  holy  spirit,  with  thy  gaseous  emanation.  We  will  not 
trace  up  thy  life  further,  oh,  thou  little  fern  leaf!  Whilst 
thou  art  blazing  and  dancing  thy  shimmering  life  away,  we 
see  thy  spectral  finger  writing  upon  the  flame — God,  the 
Creator,  for  none  but  he  could  do  it.  His  arm  alone  could 
sustain  thee  through  millions  of  ages.  His  love  alone  could 
contrive  so  beneficent  a work,  to  lighten  and  bless  and  pros- 
per man.  His  wisdom  alone  could  carve  out  a design  of  such 
wondrous  chemistry  as  this.  Oh  ! we  need  not  go  and  listen 
to  the  boom  of  the  mighty  ocean  ; we  need  not  "wait  for  the 
thunder  of  the  skies  or  the  flash  of  the  lightning ; we  need 
not  gaze  into  the  immensity  of  space  to  find  out  God.  Every 
forest  tree,  and  every  blade  of  grass  will  tell  the  tale — will 
show  wisdom,  design,  calculation. 

We  may  not  see  Thee,  oh  creating,  uncreated  source  of  all ! 
We,  finite  beings,  may  never  gaze  upon  the  infinite  ; we,  frag- 
ments, may  never  apprehend  the  whole  ; but  wherever  the 
truth  of  thy  law,  thy  calculations  and  designs  is  found,  there 
are  the  foot-prints  of  an  almighty  and  intelligent  mind,  writ- 
ten as  plainly  as  man  writes  himself  upon  all  his  works. 
We  seek  for  immortality,  and  the  story  of  the  fern  leaf  tells 
the  whole  tale.  The  sinking  sun,  as  he  sets  to-night,  writes 
the  same  story  of  eternity,  on  the  golden  and  purple  skies. 
The  beautiful  spring-time,  when  she  yields  up  her  lip  of 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


43 


flowers  to  the  warm  embrace  of  gorgeous  summer,  bids  fare- 
well with  a cry  of  “ I will  return.”  The  golden  summer,  as 
the  rich  tints  of  autumn  embrown  her  gorgeous  cheek,  bids 
farewell  to  the  earth  with  the  warning  cry,  “ I will  return.” 
Every  autumn  breeze  is  laden  with  the  same  eternal  sound  ; 
and  the  booming  winds  of  winter  echo  it  in  their  solemn 
anthem ; all  repeat  the  perpetual  pean  of  immortality, 
“ Return,  return,  forever.”  Immortality  is  stamped  upon 
everything  that  is.  You  cannot  put  a grain  of  matter  out  of 
existence.  Ye  may  not,  by  searching,  find  out  God.  Ye 
may  feel  him,  but  ye  cannot  find  him  out.  Ye  can  neither 
find  out  nor  feel  after  that  which  ye  term  annihilation.  Ye 
may  ask,  what  has  this  to  do  with  the  human  soul,  since 
change  is  written  on  all  forms  ? How  shall  we  determine 
that  no  change  shall  come  to  that  part  which  we  claim  to  be 
immortal,  and  which  can  only  have  immortality  by  virtue  of 
individuality  ? Aye,  individuality — we  have  spoken  the 
word,  and  that  of  itself  signifies  immortality.  Individuality 
and  change  cannot  exist  together.  If  you  change  individu- 
ality, you  find  out  annihilation.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
annihilation.  Individuality  is  an  evidence  out-wrought  in  the 
person  of  man,  and  until  you  can  annihilate  that,  you  never 
can  change  it.  If  you  once  change  that  identity,  which  says, 
“ I am” — that  consciousness  that  recognizes  itself,  and  it  does 
not  speak  individuality,  the  change  is  so  mighty  that  it 
amounts  to  annihilation.  Your  own  soul  tells  the  tale.  We 
do  not  claim,  as  many  have  done,  that  the  longing  for  immor- 
tality tells  the  whole  tale ; although  we  do  not  believe  in  a 
God  of  mockery,  although  we  do  not  believe  that  any  fiend 
has  placed  before  the  longing,  aspiring  soul  of  man,  the  craving 
for  eternity,  merely  to  mock  him  with  its  shadow ; yet,  that 
is  not  our  only  evidence.  We  find  that  there  is  in  the  spirit 
a constant  progress  ; from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  the  spirit 
manifests  growth,  but  never  change.  Whatever  is  impressed 
upon  the  consciousness  of  the  babe,  remains  with  the  old 
man.  Whilst  every  grain  of  matter  in  your  form  passes  and 
changes,  and  becomes  lost  in  the  immensity  of  space,  it  may 


44 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


be,  to  be  re-incarnated  in  some  other  form — whilst  your  bodies 
arc  forever  throwing  off  and  replacing  their  particles  of 
foreign  matter,  from  all  substances  around  you,  your  spirit 
never  changes.  It  is  like  a thread,  upon  which  matter  is 
strung,  as  beads  are  strung.  Forms  are  forever  changing, 
but  the  individuality  of  the  spirit,  whilst  it  is  constantly 
marked  by  fresh  conquests  over  knowledge,  never  loses  one 
grain. 

All  things  in  nature  reach  their  perfection  here,  except  the 
spirit.  The  flower,  after  its  kind — the  machine  that  you 
invent  and  construct,  after  its  kind — all  inanimate  forms, 
after  their  kind,  are  perfect  in  their  life  ; but  what  perfection 
does  man  find  for  all  the  energies,  all  the  faculties,  all  the 
aspirations,  the  hopes,  the  longings,  the  wishes,  the  fears  of 
his  heart,  shuddering  at  annihilation  ? They  either  speak  of 
immortality,  or  were  given  in  mere  mockery.  Who  among 
ye  white-haired  old  men,  as  ye  plant  your  trembling  feet 
on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  can  say : “ My  soul  is  full ; I 
ask  for  no  more ; my  soul  is  the  perfect  flower  of  my  exist- 
ence ; there  is  no  more  to  be  added  ” ? The  cry  is  still  for 
to-morrow  ; the  cry  is  still  for  light  ; and  the  dim  eye  opens 
like  a window  of  the  soul  looking  through  upon  eternity,  and 
still  searching  for  and  feeling  after  the  endless  vistas  of  a 
perpetually  returning  to-morrow.  These  are  the  evidences 
of  immortality.  This  quenchless,  indestructible  principle  in 
which  ye  live  and  are  placed — matter — ye  cannot  destroy 
this  ; how  much  less  can  ye  crush  out  the  light  of  the  change- 
less, immortal  spirit  ? Nature  tells  the  whole  tale. 

And  for  life  practice,  do  ye  need  a standard  ? Though 
Confucius  had  never  lived;  though  Zoroaster  and  Buddha, 
though  Osiris  and  Esculapius  and  Bacchus  had  never  taught ; 
though  all  the  gods  of  Greece  and  Borne  and  Egypt  had 
never  enunciated  their  systems,  that  rule  which  Jesus,  the 
last  of  the  prophets,  taught,  that  to  do  unto  men  as  ye  would 
be  done  unto,  was  the  only  perfect  standard,  would  still 
have  been  known.  The  ancients  knew  and  felt  and  practiced 
it  long  ere  sects  and  systems  of  worship  had  their  day.  The 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


45 


very  first  nations  of  the  earth  knew  it.  They  recognized  it 
in  the  eternal  gospel,  which  preaches  it  through  every  stone 
and  grain  of  sand.  While  love — that  love  which  gives, 
that  justice  which  demands  not  in  return,  is  an  eternal  prin- 
ciple ; it  forms  the  standard  throughout  all  nature.  Try  it 
even  in  its  lowest  forms.  Do  to  the  rocks  as  ye  would  have 
them  do  unto  you.  Treat  them  well ; work  them  well  and 
carefully ; beware  how  ye  dash  them  in  pieces  in  scorn  and 
anger,  or  they  will  answer  no  good  purpose.  Break  them 
with  care  and  treat  them  with  kindness  and  they  will  build 
your  houses  and  return  your  care  a thousand  fold  in  good 
uses.  Care  for  the  metals  ; work  the  iron  carefully  ; let  the 
gold  be  wrought  with  love  and  tenderness ; labor  with  all 
the  faculties  and  all  the  energies,  aye,  with  all  the  scrutiny 
of  the  finest  justice,  to  perfect  the  metals,  and  they  will 
return  you  their  uses  a thousand  fold.  Love  the  unpolished 
gems,  deal  with  them  with  gentle  and  unwearied  hand,  treat 
them  as  though  you  loved  them,  and  they  will  smile  in  your 
face  with  all  the  radiant  beauty  of  answering  love.  Love 
the  grains  of  sand,  and  they  will  give  you  the  plates  of 
shining,  crystal  glass.  Care  for  the  little  flower,  and  it  will 
bestow  its  perfumed  breath  upon  you.  Love  the  rocks,  and 
they  will  shelter  you  ; love  the  winds  and  the  waves,  and  the 
sweet  sunshine  that  spreads  over  your  heads,  and  the  skies 
above,  and  they  will  stretch  away  their  mighty,  protecting 
arms  to  catch  the  breezes  and  waft  to  you  their  fragrant 
breath.  The  rocks  give  up  the  debris  of  their  decaying 
forms,  under  the  influence  of  warmth  and  sunlight,  in  order 
to  produce  flowers  and  sweet  vegetation ; and  the  flowers 
love  the  air  and  sunlight ; as  they  drink  in  the  sweet  dews 
of  morning,  and  rejoice  beneath  the  golden  light  of  the  radi- 
ant sun,  they  give  forth  their  perfumed  loveliness,  and  they 
stretch  upward  their  shining  heads  to  greet  with  a merry  laugh 
the  passing  zephyr,  rejoicing  that  the  sun  loves  them,  and 
they  grow  in  his  healthful  beams.  All  nature  tells  the  tale 
of  universal  justice  and  universal  love.  But  when  you  come 
to  man,  you  see  how  perfectly  the  tale  of  love  and  justice 


46 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


and  kindness  is  engraven  upon  every  human  soul.  By  what 
consciousness  docs  the  little  child  stretch  out  its  arms  to  the 
being  that  is  kindest  to  it  ? If  nature  had  not  written  upon 
its  tender  mind,  love,  as  the  first  element  of  knowledge,  this 
recognition  of  kindness  could  never  be.  Look  in  the  face  of 
the  young  school-boy,  and  ask  what  makes  that  fearful, 
anxious  face  light  up  with  sudden  joy,  and  brighten  with 
such  gladness,  that  the  poor  dunce  will  slave  over  his  lessons 
to  bring  them  perfect  to  the  kind  master  ? The  one  cheer- 
ful word,  the  one  look  of  love,  the  one  tone  of  encourage- 
ment, will  sink  into  that  young,  loving  heart,  and  stimulate 
him  to  a task  that  not  the  hardest  blow  would  drive  him  to 
perform.  Try  it  with  the  young  man,  as  he  goes  forth  to 
seek  in  the  cold,  hard  world  the  way  to  fortune  and  fame. 
Can  the  voices  of  his  earlier  years,  can  the  gushing  words  of 
love  ever  leave  him  ? Back  to  the  companions,  back  to  the 
maid  of  his  heart,  back  to  the  one  true  and  only  being  on 
earth,  that  can  speak  in  those  tones  that  nothing  on  earth 
can  rival ; and  thou,  simple  maid,  will  ever  return  love,  love. 
It  is  still  the  interchange  of  something  stronger  than  self, 
dearer  than  one’s  own  nature.  This  has  made  the  world 
beautiful  and  good,  and  redeemed  it  from  the  hard  iron  rule 
of  self.  Try  it  with  the  stern  warrior,  as  he  returns  from 
the  battle  field,  with  the  blood-stained  wreath  of  victory 
around  his  brow ; as  the  applauding  shouts  of  millions 
resound  in  his  ear ; as  the  trophies  of  victory  are  strewn 
before  him,  where  does  that  eye  look  most  fondly,  and  most 
anxiously  for  applause ; where  does  it  find  the  only  applause 
that  goes  straight  to  the  heart,  and  makes  the  warrior  the 
man  ? In  the  eye  of  the  dear  companions  he  had  left  at  home  ; 
in  the  sound  of  the  little  child’s  feet  as  it  runs  across  the 
floor  to  meet  him ; in  the  one  precious  word,  father.  Then 
the  warrior  is  forgotten,  the  victory  is  uncared  for,  the  shout 
of  nations  is  drowned ; all  the  laurels,  all  the  pomp,  and  all 
the  fame  he  has  gained,  are  laid  at  the  feet . of  love.  Oh 
man ! man ! from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  from  the  voices  of 
the  flowers  to  the  din  of  the  hard,  metallic  world ; from  the 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


47 


throbbing  heart  of  every  child  to  the  burning  bosom  of  every 
man,  there  goes  forth  the  echo  of  that  cry,  that  to  do  unto 
others  as  ye  would  have  them  do  unto  you,  is  the  perfect 
standard  of  right,  which  exists  throughout  all  nature.  There 
is  none  other.  Well  may  the  great  philosopher  of  Nazareth, 
the  man  whom  some  overwise  amongst  ye  have  called  unsci- 
entific, and  unphilosophical — well  might  he  with  far-seeing 
eye,  with  deep-seated  consciousness,  and  clairvoyant  percep- 
tion of  past,  present  and  future,  of  all  man’s  necessities  and 
capabilities,  sum  up  every  law  and  commandment  in  this  one 
simple  teaching. 

Nature,  is  this  thy  gospel,  or  is  it  not  ? Listen  to  the  patter- 
ing rain  drops.*  Whence  do  they  come  ? Where  have  they 
traveled  from  ? From  what  distant  worlds  has  the  breath  of 
the  unknown  God  sent  them  ? Oh,  they  have  lived  forever ! 
They  tell,  with  every  wild  gust  and  faint  patter,  of  a God 
who  had  neither  beginning  nor  shall  ever  know  end.  Alpha 
and  Omega  is  in  every  sound.  We  cannot  define  their 
origin — they  have  lived  from  all  time.  They  tell  with  sig- 
nificant voice  the  tale  of  immortality.  They  have  come  from 
dim  ages,  where  they  were  manufactured,  first  in  the  shape 
of  volumes  of  gaseous  worlds  ; then  concentrated  and  crys- 
talized  into  the  crust  of  your  earth,  passing  through  every 
variety  of  form  until,  at  last,  they  find  their  lodgment  within 
your  bodies ; and  passing  out  from  thence  in  the  form  of  gas, 
re-ascend  to  the  eternal  skies  to  be  re-manufactured  into  the 
form  of  rain-drops.  Their  origin  is  with  the  great  Alpha  and 
Omega  of  eternity.  Immortality,  too,  is  in  every  sound. 
You  never  can  destroy  them.  Life  practice  is  there  too. 
They  bring  their  uses.  As  they  sink  within  the  violet  cup 
they  become  absorbed  in  its  beauty,  and  in  its  purity.  As 
they  return  to  earth  for  the  irrigation  of  vegetation,  they 
bring  with  them  life,  and  health.  Ere  they  leave  the  flower 
they  carry  with  them  the  fragrance  of  its  life  ; they  become 

* The  rain,  which  had  prevailed  during  the  evening,  at  this  time  was  increas- 
ing, and  the  patter  of  the  drops  could  be  heard  without.  To  this  the  speaker 
alludes. 


48 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE, 


incarnated,  as  it  were,  into  its  beautiful  existence ; they 
become  once  again  the  earthy  part,  and  it  may  be  that  ages 
hence  they  shall  sparkle  in  the  radiance  of  the  glorious  dia- 
mond. Progress,  too,  is  another  portion  of  this  eternal  gospel 
of  nature,  which  the  ages  tell ; which  the  history  of  all 
nations  teaches;  which  the  advance  of  every  art,  and  every 
science  indicates;  which  the  history  of  planets,  suns  and 
stars  proclaims ; which  man  himself  spells  out  from  the  cra- 
dle to  the  grave,  in  a perpetual  series  of  progressive  experi- 
ments, each  one  leading  to  the  culminating  point  when  his 
spirit  is  set  free,  to  put  in  practice  the  results  of  the  follies, 
the  trespasses,  the  hopes,  the  wishes,  the  aspirations  which 
he  has  gained  in  his  earthly  career.  This,  too,  is  the  great 
lesson,  that  equalizes  all  injustice,  that  gives  to  every  human 
soul  a chance,  that  assures  every  being  that  there  is  justice 
awaiting  him  in  some  condition,  either  here  or  hereafter. 
These  are  some  of  the  lessons  which  we  read  from  the  great 
gospel  of  nature.  But  not  until  we  have  taken  you  deep, 
deep,  and  from  the  central  fires  that  burn  beneath,  to  the 
sparkling  stars  that  gleam  above  you,  can  we  read  the  opera- 
tion of  the  magnificent  gospel  which  the  finger  of  the 
Almighty  himself  has  written.  The  great  lesson,  however, 
which  all  things  tell,  is,  that  there  is  an  all-preserving  arm, 
an  all-sustaining  power,  a master  mind,  equal  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  all  occasions,  a force  strong  enough  to  uphold  alf,  a 
mind  affectionate  and  loving  enough  to  do  all  things  for  man’s 
use  and  benefit. 

A few  words  on  the  subject  of  revelation.  We  have 
already  shown  you  that  the  revelation  claimed  by  your  reli- 
gionists is  imperfect.  It  is  so  not  in  essence,  not  in  quality, 
but  in  quantity.  First,  we  admit  that  man,  from  the  gospel 
of  nature,  may  by  thought,  by  searching,  find  out  God,  define 
his  own  existence  and  read  clear — aye,  clear  as  sunlight — 
the  whole  path  of  his  duty.  We  yet  claim  that  man  is  not 
at  present  a thinking  being;  man  has  too  long  been  accus- 
tomed to  yielding  up  the  reins  of  thought  to  others  more 
capable  of  spelling  out  the  great  purposes  of  nature,  to  take 


RELIGION  OP  NATURE. 


49 


the  reins  himself;  to  pause  in  the  headlong  career  of  his 
daily  duties,  go  out  among  the  fields  and  the  rocks,  into  the 
arts  and  sciences  of  nature,  and  spell  out  God.  We  find, 
therefore,  that  the  good  Father,  compassionating  the  weak- 
ness of  the  creature  He  has  made,  has  established  a long 
line  of  revelation  that,  like  a silver  cord,  has  bound  the  ages 
together,  until  it  has  brought  up  the  history  of  the  race  to 
its  present  degree  of  perfection.  And  thus  we  find,  on  one 
side,  the  history  of  naturalism,  and  on  the  other,  that  of 
supernaturalism.  There  stands  the  dry  history  of  the  race — 
wars,  and  politics,  and  governments,  the  rise  and  fall  of 
kingdoms ; and  on  the  other  side  stand  the  history  of  ghosts, 
and  spectres,  and  apparitions,  of  morbid  spirits,  of  angels, 
of  monsters  of  darkness  and  light,  and  all  the  signs  and 
miracles  and  wonders,  which  in  every  age  and  country  have 
been  ranged  beneath  the  title  or  placed  in  the  domain  of 
supernaturalism.  Compare  the  two,  and  we  believe  that  you 
will  find  that  the  one  is  the  cause,  the  other  the  effect. 
When  you  begin  to  trace  up  the  history  of  all  ages,  you  have 
to  borrow  of  supernaturalism.  When  you  would  trace  up 
the  foundations  of  kingdoms  and  dynasties — when  you  would 
ask,  whence  come  the  lost  systems  of  government,  still  you 
must  go  to  supernaturalism.  When  you  desire  to  inquire  of 
painting,  music,  poetry,  sculpture,  the  traditions  of  all  the 
social  enjoyments  and  religious  observances  of  mankind,  still 
you  must  go  back  to  supernaturalism.  All  that  is  grand  and 
beautiful  in  history — all  that  is  graceful  in  literature — the 
origin  of  every  art  and  every  science — all  claim  as  a parent 
that  convenient  word,  inspiration.  That,  traced  to  its  origin, 
means  the  still  small  voice  of  supernaturalism.  We  know  it 
is  the  custom  of  religionists  to  make  one  grand  dive  into  the 
world  of  supernaturalism,  and  claim  that,  for  a special  period, 
for  a special  purpose,  and  under  special  circumstances,  super- 
naturalism actually  did  mingle  with  the  age  of  naturalism. 
Unfortunately,  every  nation  makes  the  same  claim,  and  when 
we  desire  to  decide  between  them,  we  have  to  inquire 
whether  they  are  all  God’s  children  or  not.  If  we  could 
4 


50 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE, 


find  that  race,  that  religion,  that  people,  that  was  not  born 
of  the  same  God,  through  the  self-same  laws,  and  under  the 
self-same  conditions,  we  should  surely  yield  the  palm  to  you, 
Oh  Christians  ! But  since  ye  are  but  a fragment  of  the  earth, 
and  that  a very  small  one — since  ye  have  not  originated  any 
art  nor  any  science  yourselves,  but  have  been  content  to  spoil 
the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  the  Arabians,  the 
Jews,  in  a word,  all  nations,  and  then  call  them  Christian, 
we  find  we  are  compelled,  in  simple  justice,  to  own  that 
every  nation  has  had  its  measure  of  supernaturalism  as  well 
as  yourselves.  Where  we  take  issue  with  you,  then,  Oh 
Christians ! is  not  in  the  fact  of  your  claiming  a spiritual 
origin  for  your  religion,  but  in  the  atrocious  fact  that  you 
deny  it  to  others.  You  admit  that  spiritual  beings  can  be 
the  only  revelators,  except  from  analogy,  except  from  that 
beneficent  process  of  slow  reason  which  insists  that  man 
should  investigate  the  sources  of  being — should  go  out  into 
nature  and  spell  out  her  mysteries.  Except  by  such  process, 
it  is  impossible  that  any  but  spiritual  beings  can  understand 
and  define  the  spirit,  God.  Unless  ye  comprehend  what 
spirit  is — unless  ye  apprehend  its  existence,  and  measure  its 
possibilities — unless  ye  can  define  its  attributes,  and  learn 
that  they  are  one  and  the  same  with  the  attributes  of  Him 
whom  ye  call  God — “ our  God,”  ye  may  prate  in  vain  with 
your  thousand  tongues,  your  religious  systems  of  every  age. 
Ye  may  define  and  measure  your  image  of  the  soul,  and  then 
enlarge  it  and  call  it  a God,  but  ye  never  can  define  the 
being  that  fills  all  space ; ye  never  can  measure  the  Soul  of 
the  universe,  until  ye  comprehend  the  soul  within  ye.  As 
you  are  the  type  of  him — as  your  soul  acts  upon  the  matter 
of  your  own  body,  so  does  the  Soul  of  immensity  act  upon 
the  matter  of  immensity  ; and  in  no  other  way  than  by  com- 
prehending and  defining  your  own  soul,  can  ye  ever  solve 
the  question  of  a God.  And  who  shall  define  it  but  the 
disembodied  ? Who  shall  bring  ye  news  of  a spiritual 
existence — who  shall  measure  the  length  and  breadth,  the 
heighth  and  depth,  the  possibilities  and  attributes  of  spirits, 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


51 


save  spirits  ? When  you  ask  for  evidence,  are  you  to  take 
the  evidence  that  they  quote  of  eleven  men,  some  doubting 
and  some  worshiping,  when  the  great  world  of  supernatural- 
ism stands  open  before  you,  wTith  all  its  long-preserved  tradi- 
tions, with  all  its  undeniable  facts  ? And  if  that  is  not 
enough,  take  the  naturalism  and  supernaturalism  of  this  day, 
and  reduce  it  to  the  simple  laws  of  electricity,  and  you  will 
find  that  supernaturalism  is  nothing  more  than  the  naturalism 
which  grows  out  of  the  earth,  as  the  soul  grows  out  of  the 
body.  Aye,  your  days  of  supernaturalism  are  ended,  and 
with  its  termination  comes  the  last  page  in  God’s  great 
gospel  of  revelation. 

Hitherto,  we  have  limited  our  view  to  the  works  ; now  we 
will  take  the  word  ; and  where  you  find  this  differing  from  the 
works,  distrust  it.  God’s  word  can  never  be  false,  so  long 
as  it  matches  God’s  works.  The  word  comes  to  us  through 
fallible,  human  lips,  or  at  least  through  the  human  medium. 
Whichever  way  you  classify  it,  the  medium  of  a finite  being 
must  be  imperfect.  Whatever  you  receive,  therefore,  of 
God’s  word,  must  be  of  a fragmental  character.  Whatever 
you  receive  of  God’s  works,  you  receive  in  their  immensity, 
all  the  laws,  all  the  conditions,  being  written  in  the  smallest 
as  well  as  in  the  largest  part.  Revelation,  therefore,  is 
nothing  more  than  an  imperfect  teaching,  whether  it  come 
from  the  spirits,  or  from  man,  inspired  by  God  himself.  It 
can  only  be  defined  by  the  capacity  of  the  medium  ; it  can 
only  belong  to  the  time  in  which  it  is  given  ; it  can  only  be 
apprehended  by  you  according  to  your  intelligence  of  to-day; 
and  if  you  are  a progressive  people,  that  intelligence  is  not 
enough  for  to-morrow.  Give  us  our  daily  bread  for  the  body, 
is  the  cry  of  the  materialist ; but  wherefore  do  you  not  ask 
daily  bread  for  the  soul  ? We  will  tell  you  why  ye  do  not 
ask  it — because  it  has  been  poured  upon  you  ; because  the 
measure  has  been  pressed  down  and  running  over ; because 
the  light  has  shone  in  the  darkness,  though  the  darkness 
comprehended  it  not.  Nature,  then,  is  the  book,  and  spirits 
the  teachers  that  enable  you  to  read  it.  It  is  for  the  purpose 


52 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


of  restoring  you  to  that  age  of  innocence,  to  that  Garden  of 
Eden,  when,  without  gospel  or  creed,  Bible  systems  or 
churches,  man  heard  the  voice  of  his  God  walking  in  the 
garden — it  is  for  the  purpose  of  initiating  the  great  church 
of  the  universe,  for  building  up  the  great  altar  of  the  human 
heart,  for  installing  the  high  priest,  God  himself,  and  bring- 
ing into  your  visible  presence  the  ministering  acolytes,  that 
beings  who  are  in  the  experience  of  immortality,  who 
know  spirituality  as  a reality,  have  manifested  their  pres- 
ence to  you  — that  modern  Spiritualism  has  come,  not 
to  break  down  your  religions,  but  to  build  them  on  the 
Bock  of  Ages  — not  to  subvert  your  churches,  but  to 
build  one  large  enough  to  contain  the  great,  round, 
rushing  world — not  to  take  away  aught  that  is  good,  but  to 
give  you  that  truth  that  shall  make  you  free.  But  believe 
not — no,  not  a single  word — that  the  works  of  the  Maker 
do  not  verify.  “ Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but  try 
the  spirits.”  Does  it  mean  that  ye  shall  quench  prophecy, 
and  despise  prophesying  and  the  spirits?  Does  it  mean 
that  ye  shall  not  covet  after  spiritual  gifts  ? Does  it  mean 
that  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  no  more  prophesy  ? 
All  these  things,  we  reminded  you  to-day,  belonged  to  your 
religious  systems.  Why  do  ye  not  indoctrinate  them  into 
your  creeds  ? Why  do  we  not  find  them  in  your  Thirty-Nine 
Articles  ? Where  are  the  signs  that  should  follow  them  that 
believe,  Oh  Christians  ? Or  are  there  none  among  you  who 
do  believe,  but  modern  Spiritualists  ? Oh ! it  is  in  vain  to 
believe,  with  your  religions  or  systems  of  mystery ; that 
mystery  which  is  designed  to  keep  you  in  darkness  is  the 
only  veil  that  hides  from  you  the  God  of  nature,  the  divine 
will,  and  immortality,  and  perverts  the  pure  and  simple  teach- 
ing of  nature’s  law  of  right — that  standard  of  right  that 
requires  you  to  do  to  every  one  else,  and  every  thing,  pre- 
cisely what  ye  would  have  done  unto  yourselves.  Farewell, 
religious  systems,  and  all  hail  religion  ! Farewell  to  creeds, 
and  dogmas,  and  all  hail  to  the  word  of  the  living  God ! 
written  on  every  pago  of  all  his  works,  and  at  last  inaugu- 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


53 


rated,  in  full  and  mighty  reality,  by  God’s  ministers.  W e tell 
ye,  men,  there  is  not  a rap,  that  ever  sounded  in  the  spirit 
circle,  but  what  points  you  to  nature — that  bids  you  go  forth 
to  the  works,  before  you  take  for  authority  one  single  word. 
There  is  not  a dancing  table,  nor  vibrating  floor,  not  a 
single  motion  of  the  gyrating  bodies,  that  ye  scorn,  and 
sneer,  and  scoff  at — not  one  of  these  low  and  insignificant 
manifestations,  but  what  speaks  with  trumpet  tongue  of  im- 
mortality ; and  never  has  it  spoken  and  its  utterance  been 
established,  unless  it  was  based  upon  principles  that  are 
written  in  the  gospel  of  nature.  The  book  has  been  before 
you ; the  priests  have  placed  the  seventli  seal  upon  it,  and 
defied  it  to  break  out.  But  the  spirits  at  last  have  loosened 
it.  You  open  it,  and  find  that  one  word,  Religion.  That 
is  the  purpose, — the  meaning,  the  destiny  of  life ; the  reli- 
gion of  the  seven  days ; the  religion  of  the  blacksmith,  and 
the  mariner ; the  religion  of  the  builder,  and  the  operative  ; 
the  religion  of  the  machinist,  and  the  merchant ; the  religion 
of  the  trader,  and  the  farmer  ; the  religion  that  does  to  every 
creature  in  every  situation  and  condition  of  life,  on  every 
day  of  the  week,  and  in  every  second  of  time,  what  he  would 
have  man  do  unto  him.  This  is  what  you  are  required  to  do 
in  exchange  for  what  God  has  given  you — your  own  soul. 

We  would  now  willingly  answer  a few  questions,  if  it  be 
the  pleasure  of  this  audience  to  propound  them. 

[A  gentleman  in  the  audience  arose  and  asked  the  following 
questions :] 

“ Is  not  spirit,  or  life,  an  eternal  element,  as  reasonable 
a hypothesis  as  visible  matter  to  be  eternal,  subject  to  eternal 
transmutation  ? ” 

“ Conscious  beings — their  highest  perfection  being  attained, 
can  man  be  conscious  of  a higher  divine  essence  ? ” 

“ May  not  the  vital  spirit  of  life  be  subject  to  transmuta- 
tion, unconscious  of  the  past,  presuming  the  future?” 


54 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE, 


Miss  IIardinge. — These  questions  would  all  require,  for 
their  perfect  elaboration,  too  long  a period  for  us  to  press 
upon  the  attention  of  this  auditory.  We  will  in  brief  refer 
to  one  question.  The  spirit  may  be  termed  in  one  sense 
transmuted ; that  is  to  say,  whilst  the  spirit,  being  here 
encased  in  the  mortal  body,  neither  knows  nor  gravitates  to 
its  proper  sphere,  the  spirit  in  another  world,  by  a simple 
transmutation,  forms  from  itself  these  elements  and  surround- 
ing conditions,  which  it  simply  gathers  up  here  from  the  ex- 
ternal. Here  the  spirit  possesses  houses,  lands,  circum- 
stances, and  surroundings  foreign  to  itself.  In  spirit  land 
all  these  things  are  outworked  from  its  own  condition.  This 
is,  to  some  extent,  a transmutation,  and  the  only  one  which 
the  spirit  knows.  The  spirit  cannot  suffer  change  without 
annihilation. 

We  have  endeavored  to  dwell  upon  this  point,  feeling 
that  it  was  pressed  on  by  a strong  and  powerful  mind  in  our 
audience.  We  now  recognize  that  this  thought  has  been 
pressing  upon  our  questioner.  We  again  insist  that  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  spirit  is  inwrought  with  the  consciousness, 
and  can  suffer  no  change  without  annihilation.  Of  the  divine 
essence,  we  may  not  this  night  speak  more  fully. 

We  will,  with  the  pleasure  of  this  audience,  propose  as 
the  subject  next  in  order  to  be  considered,  The  idea  of  the 
Divine.  Our  question  shall  take  this  form : Who,  what, 
and  where  is  God  ? Of  what  substance  ? What  quality  ? 
What  relation  does  he  hold  to  man  ? We  will  follow  this, 
by  considering  the  special  nature  of  that  element  we  term 
the  spirit  of  man.  We  shall  then  be  enabled  to  give  those 
definitions  which  a few  brief  words  would  but  ill  convey  to  a 
mind  so  capable  of  analyzing  for  itself  the  conditions  of 
mind,  cither  in  the  human  form,  or  what  we  term  the  general 
idea  of  God,  as  that  which  has  presented  our  questions  this 
night.  We  will  not  therefore  trespass  upon  the  patience  of 
an  overtaxed  auditory.  Once  more  we  will  request  you  to 
bring  your  questions  prepared  when  next  we  meet.  We 


RELIGION  OF  NATURE. 


55 


trust  the  time  will  better  serve  for  allowing  these  question- 
ing minds  to  take  counsel  with  their  speaker. 

We  now  go  forth  into  the  solemn  darkness;  but  where 
is  there  darkness  that  mind  has  not  illuminated  ? We  go  forth 
into  that  great  mystery  of  the  future ; but  where  is  that 
future  which  mind  has  not  planned,  calculated,  foreknown, 
and  foreordained  ? To  that  Mind,  then,  we  commend  our- 
selves. What  matters  it  by  what  name  we  designate  it?  We 
may  call  it  Allah,  Brahma,  Yishnu ; or  we  may  call  it  Jeho- 
vah, or  God  ; it  matters  not,  we  know  that  it  is  with  us,  and 
that  it  is  caring  for  us.  Then  do  we  commend  ourselves  to 
thee,  Oh,  viewless,  formless  Being ! King  of  light,  and  Lord 
of  men,  whom  it  is  our  dearest,  best  privilege  to  call  Our 
Father. 


LECTURE  THIRD. 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


Delivered  at  Kingsbury  Hall,  Sunday  Morning,  Oct.  28,  1860. 


[Miss  Hardinge  appeared  at  a quarter  before  eleven,  and  resumed  the  series  of  discourses  as 

follows :] 

“ Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ? Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty 
unto  perfection  ? It  is  as  high  as  heaven  : what  canst  thou  do  ? Deeper  than 
hell : what  canst  thou  know  V* 

Such  are  the  tremendous  words  by  which  ye  children  of 
the  living  God  are  barred  out  from  coming  to  his  footstool. 
Such  is  the  floodgate  that  is  let  down  between  the  knowledge 
of  your  Creator  and  you,  Oh  Creature ! The  pean  of  the 
Man  of  Sorrows  in  ancient  days,  the  great  tragedy  of  Job, 
has  been  considered  one  of  the  most  sublime  representations 
of  Him  whom  another  taught  ye  to  call  Our  Father.  This 
day  we  propose  to  consider  who,  what,  and  where,  is  God. 
We  remind  ye  of  the  thoughts  of  the  ancient,  because  they 
are  yet  supposed  to  contain  the  grain  of  wheat,  upon  which 
ye  are  this  day  to  make  daily  bread  for  your  souls.  But  for 
these  suggestions  which  we  design  to  offer  you,  we  propose 
to  give  ye  another  text. 

Knowledge  is  power.  If  ye  possess  the  knowledge  of  the 
Author  of  your  being,  with  it  comes  the  knowledge  of  your- 
selves and  your  own  destiny.  Ye  arc  the  children  of  two 
eternities.  The  ocean  of  infinity  rolls  upwards  from  the 
past,  as  well  as  upwards  in  the  future  ; and  unless  ye  have 
the  knowledge  of  the  great  ocean  of  power  which  surrounds 
ye — unless  ye  can  circle  eternity,  ye  know  nothing.  These, 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


57 


too,  are  days  of  materialism.  Even  among  some  of  the 
brightest  stars  in  the  firmament  of  modern  Spiritualism, 
there  is  a tendency  to  re-enter  the  shell  from  which  you  have 
sprung — there  is  a love  for  the  earth  — an  adoration  for  the 
atoms  — a worship  for  the  dust  out  of  which  your  material 
forms  have  been  fashioned,  that  it  is  well  for  the  true  spirit 
at  least  to  comprehend  in  all  its  bearings.  It  is  with  this 
view  that  we  propose  to  ask  your  attention  this  day  to  the 
transcendental  subject  termed  God. 

It  is  an  acknowledged  axiom,  that  the  effect  cannot  be 
greater  than  the  cause.  It  is  an  axiom  of  science,  that  all 
things  are  at  work,  from  a centre  to  a circumference.  Upon 
these  two  axiomatic  principles,  we  might  raise  a claim  of 
the  absolute  necessity  for  a God.  The  Spiritualist,  however, 
has  assumed  another  position.  He  looks  upon  matter,  and 
pronounces  it  indestructible.  He  perceives  everywhere  the 
eternal  progress  of  the  atoms  from  one  condition  of  beauty 
to  another ; and  he  pronounces  that  the  law  of  progress 
everywhere  permeates  matter.  He  says,  “ I perceive  the 
cause  of  the  law  stamped  upon  matter.  I find  a sufficient 
cause  in  the  atoms  of  which  I am  composed.  I perceive 
everywhere  that  the  law  of  progress  eliminates  itself  out  of 
the  smallest  point.  Why  should  I search  further  ? Behold 
my  God ! I perceive  in  the  dust  beneath  my  feet,  in  the 
dancing  motes  of  the  atmosphere,  in  every  dew  drop,  in  every 
blade  of  grass — in  all,  I perceive  my  God.  This  is  enough: 
my  knowledge  is  power.”  What  is  that  power  ? The  power 
of  atomic  law  — the  power  of  materiality.  But  is  this  all  ? 
Is  there  nothing  behind  these  flying  spectres  of  the  skies, 
these  cometary  vapors  that  have  banded  together  to  fashion 
your  earth  ? Is  there  nothing  in  those  immense  regions  of 
space,  where  world  after  world  troops  up  into  the  midnight 
vault  of  heaven,  each  one  gravitating  to  its  place,  and  rolling 
on  from  eternity  to  eternity  in  the  same  immovable,  and  yet 
ever-varying  round,  of  law ! law ! law ! Aye,  that  is  the  word. 
Did  law  impress  itself  upon  the  atoms  ? These  mighty  winds, 
these  great  storm-kings,  that  are  turned  loose  to  sweep  the 


58 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


earth  — by  what  power  are  they  restrained  ? By  what  spirit 
of  intelligence  are  they  gathered  up  into  the  chambers  whence 
they  issued  ? By  what  power  and  design  is  a boundary  set 
to  their  violence  and  force,  and  they  called  home  again  to 
wait  the  bidding  of  further  law  to  send  them  forth  ? By 
what  calculation  and  order  have  stars  and  systems  been  set 
in  their  places ; winds  and  tides  each  obeying  the  same  sys- 
tem of  order  and  calculation  ? You  talk  of  law  impressed 
upon  the  blade  of  grass ; you  find  law  in  the  cup  of  the  lily; 
and  say  this  is  enough  to  account  for  its  radiant  purity.  Oh 
lily ! whence  hast  thou  come  ? Trace  back  thy  origin  day 
after  day  to  the  coarse  ferns,  and  mosses,  and  lichens,  of 
ancient  days.  Trace  them  again  back  to  the  trailing  weeds 
of  deep,  fathomless  seas.  Trace  them  back  again  to  the 
vapory  mass  of  the  comet,  and  still  you  find  Him  behind 
them  all ; every  comet,  every  planet,  every  star,  booming 
ocean,  bellowing  winds,  whispering  lily,  and  murmuring 
fountain,  perpetually  echoing  God ! God!  God!  The  thought 
precedes  the  deed.  Nothing  can  be  so  childish  as  to  expect 
that  one  single  impression  of  your  finger  is  ever  made  inde- 
pendent of  the  little  general  that  sits  in  your  brain.  We 
know  that  it  has  been  contended  by  the  materialist,  that  there 
are  many  of  your,  acts,  some  of  them  the  most  powerful  and 
effective  for  your  preservation,  that  are  performed  by  you 
independent  of  spirit.  There  are  times  in  your  lives  when, 
unexpectedly,  some  yawning  gulf  opens  before  you,  when 
some  tremendous  danger  is  lying  in  your  pathway,  that,  by 
what  you  term  instinct,  independent  of  the  slow  processes  of 
thought,  you  leap  aside  and  are  saved.  You  claim  that  is 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  acting  quicker  than  the 
tardy  movements  of  reason  — that  it  is  the  instinct  of  the 
atoms.  Or,  it  may  be  the  word  of  power  from  some  spirit  to 
protect  you.  Spirit ! Aye,  that  is  the  word.  Behind  your 
own  thought  is  spirit.  Behind  every  spirit,  or  fragment  of 
spirit,  must  have  been  a larger  thought,  to  give . that  spirit 
being.  Until  you  can  stand  behind  yourselves,  and  acknowl- 
edge yourselves  your  own  creators,  it  is  in  vain  for  you  to 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES, 


59 


believe  that  the  atoms  which  you  govern  are  the  cause  whose 
elimination  is  your  powerful  soul,  your  mighty  thought. 
Everywhere  you  find  spirit  first,  thought  next — matter  acted 
upon : and  yet  again  we  repeat,  that  the  materialist  among 
you  spiritualists,  answers,  in  this  great  day  of  spiritual  reality 
and  spiritual  triumph,  that  these  atoms  are  the  cause,  and 
your  magnificent  organism  of  mighty,  controlling  spirit  is 
but  the  effect. 

We  propose  this  day  to  step  behind  these  atoms,  and  see 
whence  they  obtain  this  wondrous,  all-pervading  law.  We 
do  not  deny  the  indestructibility  of  matter,  nor  its  eternity ; 
on  the  contrary,  we  claim  that  matter  ever  has  been,  and  that 
matter  must  in  all  time  have  existence,  since  we  find  that  in 
all  time  it  retains  its  imperishable,  indestructible  nature. 
You  cannot  put  this  thing  out  of  existence,  out  of  life.  You 
may  destroy  its  form ; you  may  change  the  particles  of  its 
fabric  ; you  will  do  so  ; it  cannot  preserve  them  longer  than 
the  use  of  this  fabric  requires  them  to  be  banded  together ; 
but  in  whatever  condition  they  exist,  somewhere,  either  in  the 
form  of  solid,  fluid,  or  gas,  they  will  remain  forever.  Again 
we  repeat  it — ye  stand  between  two  eternities.  Lives  finite 
one  way  cannot  be  infinite  the  other.  If  there  is  infinity, 
eternity  before,  there  is  infinity,  eternity  behind  ; and  there- 
fore we  conceive  the  fact  that  matter  is  eternal,  and  with  it 
there  is  power  that  governs  matter.  Spirit,  too,  is  eternal ; 
coeval,  coincident  with  matter.  We  claim,  then,  that  there 
are  two  eternal,  coexistent  principles,  spirit  and  matter — 
spirit  the  positive  and  active,  matter  the  negative  and  passive. 
Behind  all  forms,  behind  all  creations,  all  worlds,  and  all 
times,  we  find  these  two  eternal,  ever-active  agents.  We 
also  observe  that  spirit  combining  within  itself  intelligence, 
love,  will,  power,  wisdom — these  being  the  attributes  of  the 
spirits  ye  possess  ; in  the  totality  forming  what  we  term  God. 
We  cannot  dispense  with  this  idea  of  God.  It  is  as  irra- 
tional, as  illogical,  that  all  things  around  you  are  phantoms, 
that  the  atoms  among  which  you  move  are  illusions,  as  to 
claim  that  spirit  is  illusion.  If  there  is  a world  of  light ; if 


60 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


there  is  a permanent  universe,  with  ten  thousand  millions 
of  such  worlds  ; if  you  are  composed  and  conglomerated  of 
atoms  yet  intermingling,  interpenetrating,  guiding,  governing, 
ruling,  sustaining,  observing,  it  is  the  all-potent,  all-pervading 
element  of  spirit;  and  this  we  choose  to  term  God.  This 
we  will  worship  ; this  we  will  lean  on  ; this  we  call  Our 
Father ; recognizing  that  from  his  immensity,  God  shakes 
out  the  scintillations  of  spirit,  like  star-dust ; that  these 
scintillations  of  the  Divine  Spirit  upon  the  atoms  impress  it 
with  that  which  you  term  law,  and  give  birth  to  the  living 
forms  of  men  and  things  around  you.  Again  we  find  that 
there  is  a sublime  recognition  of  this  necessity  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  Man  is  a worshiping  being,  and  ever  has  been. 
Man,  in  some  fashion  or  other,  has  ever  acknowledged  an 
intelligential  principle,  which  he  calls  God.  It  matters  not 
through  tvhat  strange  and  various  ways,  through  what 
grotesque  forms  and  idols,  the  ignorant  ancients  have  endeav- 
ored to  spell  out  God ; it  is  enough  that  they  recognize  him, 
bending  to  Isis,  Osiris,  and  Buddha.  In  every  phase,  whether 
in  the  primary  worship  of  light  by  the  ancient  Persians ; 
whether  in  the  Sun-God  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  or  Vishnu  of 
the  Brahmins;  in  some  form  or  other,  the  soul  of  every  man  has 
responded  to  the  still  small  voice  of  the  I AM  within  him. 
Man  has  never  gazed  upon  himself  without  recognizing  his 
Author,  his  Father,  his  God.  Upon  these  propositions  we 
stand ; we  shall  not  enlarge  upon  them  at  this  time  further  ; 
we  propose  rather  to  dwell  upon  the  attributes  of  this  God. 
As  ye  live  in  the  present ; as  this  is  your  own ; as  ye  think 
of  your  God ; so  do  ye  deal  with  one  another. 

As  we  cannot  expect  that  man  should  transcend  his  God, 
or  that  his  own  acts  and  deeds  should  be  of  a different  char- 
acter from  that  being  whom  he  acknowledges  his  model,  and 
to  whom  he  holds  himself  accountable,  so  do  we  conceive 
that  the  great  question  of  this  age  is  the  definition  of  that 
God’s  dealing  with  man.  We  know  it  is  the  custom,  in  pul- 
pit and  in  press,  when  men  would  subdue  the  souls  of  their 
fellow  mortals,  and  place  before  them  the  panoramic  view  of 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


61 


their  God,  to  take  the  telescope,  go  out  into  immensity,  and 
endeavor  to  magnify  the  attributes  of  this  tremendous  power, 
in  whose  hands  they  are.  We  prefer  to  take  the  microscope. 
Ye,  0 men  and  women ! are  but  a fragment  of  existence 
after  all.  It  is  of  the  seconds  of  time  that  your  existences 
are  made  up.  You  may  go  forth  into  the  battle  field  ; into 
the  great  game  of  life,  and  when  you  are  called  upon  to  act 
out  some  mighty  part,  you  may  find  a giant  strength  afforded 
for  the  moment ; but  it  is  in  the  daily  practice ; in  the  small 
hours  of  thought ; in  the  little  seconds  of  daily  welfare,  that 
your  life,  your  spirit,  and  your  character  are  made  up.  It  is 
with  these  things,  then,  that  we  propose  to  deal.  We  will 
bring  down  our  God  from  the  immensity  of  his  incomprehen- 
sible being  to  the  atom.  We  will  see  if  we  cannot,  by 
searching,  find  him  out  in  the  grains  of  life. 

We  propose,  then,  with  microscope  in  hand,  to  take  the 
very  smallest  of  God’s  works ; one  of  the  most  insignificant 
and  almost  imponderable  evidences  of  his  power,  and  from 
this  we  will  spell  out  the  gospel  of  our  God’s  dealing  with 
men.  Aye,  we  will  even  take  the  little  breath  that  is  now 
parting  these  lips.  We  have  again  and  again  found  it  neces- 
sary, when  men  of  great  thought,  mighty  mind,  and  large 
capacity,  were  overwhelming  us  with  stars,  and  suns,  and 
systems,  to  descend  to  details,  to  examine  the  fragments  of 
our  being,  and  to  see  if  we  could  not  find  our  God  nearer 
home  than  the  distant  skies.  Take,  then,  the  little  breath 
that  parts  our  lips.  All  of  eternity  is  in  that  little  breath. 
Let  us  see  where  it  comes  from,  before  we  trace  up  its  pro- 
gress in  the  future.  We  find  that  there  is  a great  central 
point  in  the  human  structure  called  the  heart.  Knowledge 
is  power.  We  observe  that  if  we  know  this  centre  within 
ourselves ; if  we  know  that  man  is  a microcosm  of  all  crea- 
tion, we  shall  also  know  that  the  immensity  outside  of  our- 
selves, has  a centre  like  ourselves;  here,  then,  is  our  God ; 
here,  then,  is  the  central  point  of  life  for  the  atoms  of  our 
body,  the  heart.  On  one  side  of  this  heart  is  a great  tube, 
which  we  term  an  artery ; forth  from  these  tubes  flows  out 


62 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


the  life  current.  When  it  passes  from  the  artery  it  is  red  ; 
the  deep,  sanguine  color,  which  is  life ; as  it  leaves  this 
great  artery,  it  passes  into  innumerable  tubes,  termed  arte- 
ries. Arterial  blood  is  always  recognized  to  be  deep  red. 
After  a certain  period  of  passage  through  the  body,  it  leaves 
the  arteries,  and  passes  into  what  are  termed  veins  ; it  then 
becomes  almost  black,  but  not  until  it  has  coursed  through 
nearly  all  the  body.  It  leaves  the  heart  red  and  pure ; it 
returns  to  it  through  the  veins  black  and  corrupt ; because, 
by  traversing  the  course  of  the  body,  it  gathers  up  all  its 
impurities.  It  leaves  it  charged  with  oxygen  gas  ; it  returns 
charged  with  carbonic  acid  gas.  It  leaves  it  full  of  the  pure 
atmosphere  of  heaven,  and  returns  to  it  full  of  the  corrupt 
atmosphere  of  earth.  It  now  re-enters  the  heart,  passes 
through  other  lobes,  and  supplies  the  lungs,  through  which 
it  becomes  again  liberated  by  the  atmosphere  of  heaven, 
and  returns  into  the  air  the  pure,  red  arterial  blood.  The 
air  which  now  surrounds  you ; the  breath  that  comes  fresh 
from  the  far  distant  realms  of  space ; the  sweet  and  potent 
breath  of  our  God ; the  mighty  winds  which  everywhere  are 
sweeping  through  space,  and  come  laden  with  the  fragrant 
perfumes  of  other  climes ; the  balmy  atmosphere  of  those 
radiant  worlds,  where  love  and  purity  are  found.  In  this 
system,  the  fresh  and  genial  atmosphere  gradually  descends 
through  your  thick,  murky  air,  and  enters  your  lungs  ; and  in 
a few  seconds  of  time,  in  one  little  circuit  of  motion,  every 
breath  which  you  drink  in,  forms  the  entire  round  of  your 
body,  and  becomes  in  that  round  changed  from  the  red  arte- 
rial to  the  dark  venous  blood  ; this  is  the  origin  of  every 
breath.  Here  do  you  lind  the  wondrous  course  it  pursues  ; 
through  ten  thousand  millions  of  different  channels  every 
breath  passes  — through  the  wondrous  cavity  of  the  brain — 
through  all  the  nerves,  the  fibres,  and  the  sinews — through 
all  the  crooks,  the  hinges,  and  the  joints ; for  within  man 
arc  mechanical  physics.  There  is  the  great  system  of  pneu- 
matics ; the  great  system  of  hydrostatics,  water,  fluid,  every 
conceivable  clement,  all  arc  within  you ; all  these  arc  tra- 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


63 


versed  by  one  little  breath ; every  portion  is  elaborated  by 
one  little  breath.  And  now  it  has  coursed  the  entire  circuit 
of  this  wondrous  structure  of  man,  and  passes  out  from  your 
lips ; and  now  we  propose  to  trace  its  future  history  on  to 
the  next  eternity.  Coming  from  whence  ? coming  from  those 
dim,  mysterious  worlds,  that  appear  to  be  almost  on  the  rim 
of  space ; coming  from  that  illimitable  distance  which  your 
astronomers  tell  you  it  takes  millions  of  years  for  the  light 
to  travel  through  ; that  little  breath  has  come  with  the  balmy 
airs  of  distant  lands.  It  has  now  performed  its  circuit 
through  your  body,  where  now  does  it  go  ? 

By  the  great  galvanic  battery  of  the  lungs,  the  breath  is 
forced  out  through  your  lips ; the  blood  enters  through  the 
arteries  red,  it  leaves  through  the  veins  black ; the  breath 
enters  pure,  it  leaves  a deadly  poison.  Your  chemists  tell 
you  that  if  you  could  be  so  contrived  that  the  breath  of  the 
body  turned  back  to  it,  in  a few  minutes  of  time  its  poison- 
ous exhalations  would  destroy  you.  If  that  breath  had  not 
been  forced  outwards;  if  it  were  permitted  to  hang  around 
your  lips,  you  would  inevitably  perish  beneath  its  baleful 
influence  in  a few  seconds.  It  leaves  you  carbonic  acid  gas  ; 
where  does  it  go  to  ? Does  it  not,  as  ye  mingle  with  one 
another,  fall  on  and  destroy  the  uncertain  lives  of  those  with 
whom  you  every  moment  converse  ? No,  because,  being  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  it  is  heavier  than  the  atmosphere,  it  falls 
through  it  and  sinks  down  to  the  ground  ; now  it  reaches  the 
ground,  being  thicker  than  the  atmosphere ; why  does  it  not 
accumulate,  until  at  last  you  are  steeped  in  it ; until  at  last 
it  reaches  your  lips,  and  the  poison  drags  you  beneath  its 
baleful  influence  ? Because  the  carbonic  acid  gas  of  your 
bodies  is  the  life  of  the  beautiful  vegetable  world.  Every 
blossom  and  every  fruit ; every  leaf,  and  every  mighty  forest 
tree,  drinks  it  in.  It  becomes  the  daily  bread  of  flower,  and 
tree,  and  root.  There  is  a means  provided  by  which  the 
poison  is  absorbed,  and  returned  to  you,  in  part,  in  the 
delightful,  healthful  world  of  vegetable  life ; in  the  sweet 
perfume  of  the  flowers,  all  its  baneful  effects  are  lost.  In 


64 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


the  delicious  breath  of  the  rose,  the  poison  is  transmuted 
into  fragrance ; in  the  purity  of  the  lily,  it  is  changed  into 
the  most  exquisite  and  delicate  beauty;  in  the  useful  root  and 
the  luscious  fruit ; in  the  waving  grass,  and  sheltering  tree  ; 
in  all  these,  a portion  of  your  little  breath  is  found  again. 
There  is  another  portion  of  it  that  is  not  found.  It  is  patent 
to  you  all,  that  in  new  lands,  where  there  is  a vast  accumula- 
tion of  decaying  vegetation,  the  miasma  of  fever  would 
steam  its  pestilence  from  the  ground.  Why  is  this  ? Because 
in  decaying  vegetation  a part  of  your  breath  is  found  again, 
and  but  a part.  With  the  death  of  every  plant  there  goes 
forth  the  emanation  called  hydrogen  gas.  This,  too,  is  a 
deadly  poison,  if  drank  in  by  you  unmixed.  What  would 
be  the  consequence  then,  if  the  vast  exhalations  of  decaying 
vegetation  should  become  so  great  that  they  should  rise  up 
and  drown  you  in  their  baleful  embrace  ? But  this  cannot 
be.  By  another  contrivance  of  some  great  Chemist,  perhaps 
of  the  atoms,  perhaps  of  the  generous  gas  itself,  hydrogen 
gas  is  lighter  than  the  atmosphere,  and  as  it  passes  your  lips, 
only  a small  part  of  it  is  allowed  to  accumulate  in  poison  and 
pestilence.  Now  we  find  a little  part  of  the  breath  ascend- 
ing in  hydrogen  gas ; it  speeds  away  to  the  great  banks  of 
clouds  that  are  waiting  for  it  in  the  atmosphere.  It  there 
commingles  with  the  oxygen.  The  sparks  of  electricity  pass 
through  it,  and  it  returns  to  you  in  the  form  of  the  beautiful 
rain  drop  ; in  the  wholesome  dew  and  the  precious  shower ; 
it  falls  into  the  rivers ; it  supplies  the  fountains ; it  makes  up 
the  immensity  of  the  mighty  ocean  ; you  sail  your  ships  upon 
it ; you  send  your  fleets  for  commerce  and  for  conquest  over 
its  vast  surface  ; you  drink  it  in  again ; it  irrigates  your 
gardens  ; it  is  the  motive  power  by  which  all  your  machinery 
is  worked ; it  is  the  origin  of  all  the  various  blessings  of 
civilization  which  you  send  from  pole  to  pole.  The  delicious 
spices  of  India,  the  tea  of  China,  the  products  of  the  looms 
of  Persia ; the  cotton  of  America ; the  fabrics  and  the 
growths  of  far  distant  lands,  are  all  borne  upon  a portion  of 
this  little  breath.  And  still  the  sun  drinks  it,  still  the  moon 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


65 


calls*  it  up  in  the  leaping  tide ; and  still  the  vapors  of  ocean 
go  forth  to  return  to  you  again  in  atmosphere ; and  so  it  runs 
its  course,  on,  on,  forever. 

We  enter  the  grand  ocean  of  the  eternity  of  the  future. 

This  is  the  history  of  our  little  breath.  You  cannot  see 
it ; you  can  hardly  weigh  it ; you  can  scarcely  feel  it ; it  is 
hardly  palpable  to  any  one  of  your  senses  ; and  yet  you  stand 
before  it,  and  read  a gospel  of  love,  and  wisdom,  and  power, 
such  as  all  the  chemists  that  have  ever  lived  could  never 
contrive.  Oh  ! think  of  the  love  that,  so  wisely  and  beauti- 
fully orders  that  you  shall  be  thus  cared  for ; that  your 
bodies  shall  be  thus  fed  with  this  one  wholesome  breath. 
Oh  ! think  of  the  love  that  has  so  contrived  that  every  part, 
aye,  even  to  the  paring  of  a nail,  shall  be  revived  even  with 
this  same  beautiful  breath.  Oh ! think  of  the  kindness  that 
has  so  constructed  that  breath,  that  it  shall  be  heavier  than 
the  atmosphere  and  fall  to  the  ground ; that  it  shall  be 
lighter  than  the  atmosphere  after  it  has  passed  through  the 
flower,  and  leave  the  heavy  portions,  and  returning  again  a 
poison,  that  it  shall  ascend  above  you.  Oh ! think  of  the 
beneficence  that  sends  down  the  wholesome  rain,  and  the 
precious  dew,  to  bless  you  once  again.  Oh  ! think  of  the 
wisdom  that  has  contrived  it ; of  the  resistless  power  that  is 
able  to  carry  it  into  action. 

Know  thyself!  With  knowledge  is  power  indeed.  With 
such  a knowledge  as  this,  tracing  out  the  gospel  with  one 
little  breath ; tracing  out  the  immensity  of  love  and  wisdom, 
of  kindness  and  strength,  that  is  thus  manifested.  Oh,  do  you 
not  possess  power ! Aye,  like  your  Father,  almost  a demi- 
god. And  may  you  not  find  the  knowledge  you  possess 
change  the  conditions  of  the  earth  ? May  you  not  by  this 
knowledge  calculate  the  forces  of  human  life,  upon  the  vege- 
table world,  and  upon  the  atmospheric  world  ? May  you 
not  so  purify  yourself,  as  to  make  the  earth  better,  the  flowers 
brighter,  the  trees  mightier,  the  air  purer,  the  skies  more 
resplendent,  through  such  an  outworking  through  yourself? 
Possessing  this  vast  knowledge,  may  you  not  do  as  your  God 
5 


66 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES, 


has  done — change  every  condition  and  impress  the  laws  of 
your  own  knowledge  of  everything  that  you  thus  compre- 
hend ? We  tell  you,  Oh  Man!  the  history  of  that  little 
breath ; if  any  of  your  chemists  on  earth  could  contrive 
anything  half  so  beautiful ; half  so  wise ; or  half  so  won- 
derful ; you  might  well  claim  that  the  atoms  that  made  up 
the  chemists  are  the  gods,  the  cause,  and  the  origin,  of  a 
spirit  so  good,  so  beautiful,  and  so  wise.  But  you  require 
that  God’s  dealings  with  man  shall  be  narrowed  down,  each 
one  to  his  own  state.  You  look  upon  your  own  career,  and 
many  of  you  mourn  in  sorrow ; many  of  you  languish  in 
pain ; many  of  you  suffer  by  the  bitter  despotism  of  burning 
heat,  and  the  freezing  snow ; many  of  you  are  perishing  for 
food,  and  still  more  are  stamped  with  the  degraded  seal  of 
criminal  passion.  Here  you  pause ; you  may  acknowledge 
that  the  cup  of  the  lily  and  the  rose,  the  little  breath  that 
passes  your  lips,  are  all  full  of  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God ; 
but  it  is  in  your  own  human  destiny  that  you  look  for  more 
uniformity  and  happiness ; that  you  ask  for  cause  ; that  you 
demand  why  you  are  the  victims  of  the  effect  of  pain  and 
anguish. 

In  olden  times  they  talked  in  parables.  Man  will  see 
upon  his  neighbor’s  face  what  he  will  not  recognize  in  him- 
self. Once  more,  then,  permit  us  to  review  the  mode  of 
teaching  in  ancient  time,  and  present  you  with  a parable  by 
which  you  shall  learn  how  God  works  out  light,  through  all 
man’s  darkness.  We  perceive  that  man  has  ever  been 
searching  for  what  he  terms  the  cause  of  evil.  This  has 
been  the  great  problem  of  the  ages.  The  ancients  found  it 
in  the  absence  of  their  sun-god.  You  know  that  there  is  a 
power  behind  the  sun.  You  know  that  the  seasons  are  not 
gods,  and  that  the  conflict  of  summer  and  winter  is  not  the 
cause  of  evil,  although  it  may  be  its  type.  This  is  not  suffi- 
cient for  you.  This  was  not  sufficient  for  a man,  who,  gazing 
over  the  world’s  mysterious  order,  cried,  “ All  things  are 
evil.  Happiness  is  a phantom  that  constantly  flies  from  me. 
I call  tho  sun  into  the  tribunal  of  my  judgment.  I lay  the 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


67 


charge  of  evil  against  its  burning  beams.  I summon  the 
winds  into  the  court  of  inquiry  too ; I find  that  they  are 
stern  and  violent ; they  uproot  the  forest  tree  and  they  tear 
down  the  noblest  works  of  man.  I ask  the  storm-king,  the 
king  of  the  frosts  and  of  the  ice,  and  I find  that  each  one 
carries  the  sceptre  of  destruction.  I look  upon  my  fellow 
men,  and  I find  that  every  arm  is  against  me.  Oh,  it  is  evil ; 
all  things  are  evil.  I will  go  forth  and  leave  the  cities  of 
civilization.  I will  seek  in  the  wilds  and  solitudes  of  nature, 
to  wear  out  the  remnant  of  that  life  which  is  stamped  with 
the  bane  of  evil.”  And  forth  the  pilgrim  went ; and  as  he 
passed  upon  his  way,  the  burning  sun  impressed  his  brain, 
and  kindled  up  the  fires  of  fever  in  his  veins,  so  that  he 
sank  beneath  its  baleful  influence.  Long  he  lay  the  subject 
of  wild  delirium,  shrieking  against  the  terrible  sun-god,  that 
had  thus  struck  him  down ; but  when  the  sweet  breath  of 
health  once  more  fanned  his  lips,  he  listened  to  the  low  tones 
of  kindness  around  him.  He  felt  the  pressure  of  gentle, 
sympathetic  hands  stretching  over  him ; he  heard  the  gentle 
and  tender  tones  of  those  who  were  striving  to  comfort  him ; 
he  leaned  upon  the  strong,  warm  arm  of  hospitality,  and  he 
reposed  on  the  kind  bosom  of  friendship ; for  the  first  time 
his  frozen  heart  was  open  to  the  tender  ties  of  sympathy ; 
he  found  that  the  tendrils  of  affection  which  they  had 
stretched  over  him,  had  twined  around  his  own  nature,  and 
made  it  better  and  truer ; and  as  he  passed  the  threshold  of 
the  roof  that  sheltered  him,  he  fell  on  his  knees  and  cried, 
Oh,  Sun-God ! I thank  thee,  that  in  the  hour  of  adversity, 
that  in  the  pangs  of  suffering,  that  in  the  agonies  of  pain, 
I have  at  last  found  the  glorious  bond  of  human  love,  human 
sympathy,  and  human  tenderness.  And  with  that  the  traveler 
passed  on. 

As  he  passed  into  the  depths  of  the  forest,  and  into  the 
midst  of  the  plain,  he  everywhere  found  the  poisonous  rep- 
tile and  the  stinging  insects  around  him ; and  again  he  mur- 
mured and  cried,  “ Is  there  nothing  but  evil ; shall  I still  be 
a subject  of  these  cruel  pains  ; what  shall  I do  to  repel  the 


68 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


torture  that  is  forced  upon  me  ?”  Then  he  turned  to  mother 
Nature,  and  he  found  that  for  every  wound  there  was  a balm ; 
for  every  sting,  there  was  some  healthful  herb  and  valuable 
drug.  He  gathered  up  these ; he  stored  his  brain  full  of  the 
wonderful  lore  of  nature’s  great  laboratory,  and  lo,  he  began 
to  comprehend  his  own  frame ; he  spelled  out  the  first  rudi- 
mental  principles  of  anatomy,  and  he  began  to  match  with 
these  the  rudimcntal  principles  of  medicine.  Here  first  took 
rise  the  knowledge  of  the  structure  of  the  human  form ; the 
knowledge  of  the  healing  art ; and  he  blessed  the  stinging 
insect,  and  the  poisonous  reptile,  that  they  had  opened  up  to 
him  the  comprehension  of  his  own  frame ; the  understanding 
of  the  glorious  balms;  of  the  hygiene  of  nature.  As  he 
passed  on,  the  storms  of  winter  began  to  throng  around  him ; 
the  bitter  frost  and  keen  knife  of  the  north-west  winds 
pierced  his  soul  and  rent  his  garments.  Again  the  pilgrim 
murmured,  and  as  he  murmured,  the  thought  of  shelter 
suggested  itself  to  him.  He  removed  the  forest  trees ; he 
piled  up  loose  stones,  and  built  himself  a dwelling;  and  as  he 
looked  upon  his  work,  and  strove  to  adorn  it,  he  blessed  the 
storm-king  and  the  cruel  knife  of  the  wind  that  had  carved 
out  for  him  the  rudimcntal  principle  of  architecture.  Great 
Gothic  cathedrals,  noble  temples,  far-spreading  galleries  of 
.art  and  science,  useful  dwellings — all  began  to  loom  up  with 
prophetic  power  before  his  eyes,  as  he  observed  the  neces- 
sity of  shelter  from  the  storms  of  winter,  and  he  cried, 
u Nature,  thou  art  very  good ! Only  man  and  animals  are 
cruel  to  one  another.” 

As  the  sweet  spring  came  on,  and  the  flowers  raised  their 
gorgeous  heads  to  the  forest  trees,  and  put  on  their  garments 
of  green,  rejoicing,  he  went  forth  from  his  shelter  and  tossed 
his  arms  abroad  with  joyous  energy,  and  cried,  “ Oh,  welcome 
Health  and  gladness ! ” But  then  he  observed  that  the  ancient 
.trees,  as  they  fell  to  the  earth,  crushed  beneath  them  many 
a sweet  and  innocent  flower.  “Alas  !”  he  cried, ■“  one  thing 
ever  destroys  another;  it  is  all  evil  still.  These  ancient 
forest  trees  perish,  and  with  the  crushing  fall  of  their  mighty 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


69 


trunks,  they  carry  the  little  flower  down  to  destruction.” 
But  as  he  murmured,  he  heard  the  whisper  of  the  zephyr 
rejoicing  in  the  death  of  the  flowers ; he  saw  that  every  atom 
was  made  more  refined  because  they  had  lived  and  died ; he 
saw,  too,  that  weeds  were  thus  destroyed  ; he  saw  that  the  free 
air  was  permitted  to  come  through  the  close  boughs  of  the 
forest ; he  saw  that  broad  savannas  were  opened  by  the 
death  of  every  forest  tree ; he  saw  this  destruction  was  sink- 
ing deep  into  the  earth,  and  impressing  itself  into  the  form 
of  mineral  treasures ; he  found  that  the  coal  which  he  had 
gathered  up  during  his  cold  and  loneliness,  was  formed  of  this 
decaying  matter,  and  he  blessed  the  forest  trees  because  they 
died,  and  carried  with  them  the  treasures  of  nature,  to  harden 
into  useful  mineral,  and  there  was  no  man  to  do  the  work  so 
well.  He  passed  on  his  way,  and  again  he  murmured  as  he 
beheld  the  hawk  pounce  upon  the  little  sparrow,  as  he  beheld 
the  strong  beast  destroy  the  smaller  one,  and  the  large  reptile 
prey  upon  the  tiny  insect.  “ Alas  ! ” he  cried,  a still  destruc- 
tion, still  destruction  ! ” But  now  the  vision  burst  upon  him 
of  an  earth  teeming  with  a population  that  needed  to  be 
destroyed ; of  an  animal  creation,  growing  more  and  more 
beautiful,  because  they  preyed  upon  each  other — because  they 
consumed  those  organic  forms  that  in  turn  entered  into  the 
organization  of  higher  organic  forms,  thus  producing  higher 
species.  He  saw  that,  with  every  insect  that  perished,  the 
creature  that  fed  upon  it  became  better ; the  atoms  of  its 
body  progressed,  and  as  it  yielded  up  its  life,  the  lime  and 
chalk  and  carbon  of  its  form  became  better,  because  it  was 
raised  of  the  lower  forms  of  earth.  He  found  that  the  forest 
and  the  desert  were  thus  cleared  of  their  great  superfluous 
existence,  which  would  otherwise  have  filled  the  earth  to 
repletion,  and  perished  for  want  of  nourishment.  And  at 
last  he  was  fain  to  cry  out,  “ Oh,  Nature  ! and  nature’s  God  ! 
whatever  thou  art,  thou  hast  written  thy  sovereign  laws  upon 
matter ; thou  doest  all  things  well.  It  is  man  alone  that  is 
in  fault.  With  man  alone  there  is  evil.  I will  go  back  to 
the  cities  of  civilization ; I will  spell  out  the  great  problem 


70 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


of  evil ; I will  yet  comprehend  why  man  alone  is  rebellious 
to  the  great  creative  laws  of  wisdom  and  love.”  And  as  he 
embarked  upon  the  ocean,  he  beheld  the  beautiful  ship — the 
noble  leviathan  of  the  deep — with  all  her  freight  of  human 
souls  perishing.  He  heard  their  despairing  shrieks  ; he  saw 
the  raging  waters  close  over  them,  and  he  listened  to  the 
wild  pean  of  the  winds  singing  their  requiem,  and  the  deep 
bellow  of  the  thunder  chanting  their  funeral  hymn.  He  saw 
the  torches  of  the  skies  lighting  them  to  destruction,  and  the 
mocking  billows  rise  with  their  feathery  heads  to  heaven. 
This  was  the  winding  sheet  of  the  glorious  dead.  “ Oh, 
Ocean  ! ” he  cried,  M thou  fell  monster  ! Oh,  Man  ! thou  help- 
less victim  ! why,  why  is  this  ? ” But  as  he  murmured,  the 
ocean  became  tranquil,  the  air  was  stilled,  and  lo ! upon  the 
waves  of  atmosphere  he  saw  the  ascending  forms  of  the  per- 
ished dead.  He  beheld  the  captain  and  the  mate,  the  sea-boy 
and  the  sailor,  and  every  one  of  that  crowd,  and  all  with 
their  pale,  dead  faces  upturned  to  the  skies.  Upward, 
upward  they  passed,  not  into  death,  but  into  life.  And  as 
they  lived,  they  bore  with  them  the  knowledge  of  their  fail- 
ure and  misfortune,  and  he  heard  them  whispering  into  the 
ears  of  living  men,  fresh  systems  of  navigation,  fresh  ideas, 
fresh  methods  of  maps  and  charts.  He  heard  them  conveying, 
through  the  sweet  low  tones  of  inspiration,  tales  of  unknown 
continents.  He  beheld  the  dead  mariners,  the  perished  vic- 
tims, risen  from  the  lower  deep,  sound  in  the  ears  of  new 
Columbuses,  tales  of  undiscovered  Americas.  He  saw  each 
one  of  those  who  had  passed  through  the  dangers  of  the  deep, 
in  which  they  themselves  had  perished,  by  experiment,  and 
by  failure,  capable  of  becoming  ministers  to  the  living,  in 
whose  hands  lay  the  future,  and  through  whose  brain  and 
genius  yet  unborn  millions  were  to  march  to  the  conquest  of 
new  worlds.  “ Let  the  ship  perish,”  he  cried  ; “ let  the  deep 
swallow  up  her  victims,  since  she  gives  up  their  spirits  puri- 
fied by  their  passage,  inspired  and  strengthened  by  the 
failure  and  the  suffering  through  which  they  have  passed.” 

Now  lie  hails  the  law  of  civilization.  And  hero  he  pauses 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


71 


before  the  pale  seamstress  in  her  lone  garret.  He  watches 
her  whilst  her  dim  eyes,  her  weary  fingers,  and  her  stooping 
shoulders,  labor  over  her  work.  He  sees  her  as  she  speeds 
through  the  twilight  gloom  with  a heavy  weight  of  toil  press- 
ing her  down.  He  sees  her  weeping  over  the  memory  of  her 
young  days  vanished ; over  the  recollection  of  merry  sports, 
and  happy  childhood’s  home,  sweet,  green  fields  and  flowers, 
— now  all  shut  out  from  her  heart.  He  sees  on  the  fair, 
silken,  glistening  garments  of  fashion,  her  life-blood  drop  by 
drop  pouring  down.  He  hears  the  rustle  of  the  green  grass 
over  her  untimely  grave,  waving  among  the  flowers  which 
adorn  the  head  of  beauty.  Oh ! he  cries,  is  this  justice, 
that  this  fair  young  creature  should  waste  away,  and  burn 
out  the  oil  of  her  life’s  lamp,  to  adorn  the  silken  garments 
of  fashion,  and  then  perish,  forgotten  and  unknown  ? But 
still  he  finds  that  there  is  a voice  from  the  opening  tomb,  a 
whisper  from  the  cold  marble  halls  of  death,  which  tells  him 
of  the  risen  spirit,  gloriously  bright  from  all  its  adversity, 
radiant  from  the  sufferings  it  has  gone  through ; as  fresh 
refined  gold,  coming  out  of  the  fire  of  adversity,  even  by  the 
crucible  of  labor,  fashioned  and  purified  into  splendor  by  all 
its  sighs,  and  all  the  tears  it  has  shed.  He  beheld  her 
precious  tears  all  there,  crystalized  into  pearls,  and  bound 
around  her  brow.  He  sees  her  the  ministering  angel  to  the 
suffering  sisters  she  has  left  behind ; with  heart  capable  of 
feeling  the  woes  of  humanity  and  of  ministering  to  them, 
because  she  herself  has  been  through  the  crucible  of  agonizing 
experience.  But  how  of  vice  — where  stands  the  criminal? 
where  stands  the  child  of  the  gutter  and  the  gallows  ? Why 
are  these  simple  faces  so  early  impressed  with  precocious 
vice  ? Why  are  the  hands  of  little  children,  that  should 
only  grasp  flowers,  taught  to  steal  the  fruits,  which  should 
only  belong  to  later  years  ? Alas  ! alas  ! Why  do  the  dark 
arms  of  the  gallows  rear  themselves  above  every  child  of 
vice  ? Why  do  I find  that  the  intoxicating  steam  of  the 
fire-water  is  the  only  breath  which  these  sinless  creatures 
are  permitted  to  inhale  ? Man  of  murmuring,  pilgrim  of 
adversity,  go  back  to  the  time  when  the  earth  was  young ; 


72 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


ask  thyself  why  the  comet  was  not  the  fully-fashioned  planet, 
or  why  the  planet  was  not  the  glorious,  green  earth  that  it 
now  is  ? Why  the  ancient  seas  teemed  with  strange,  un- 
fashioned monsters  ? Why  great  sea-beaches  stretched  their 
desert  lengths,  without  any  human  creature  to  rejoice  upon 
them  ? Why  those  vast,  burning  mountains  were  not  the 
green  hills  of  the  nineteenth  century  ? Ask  thyself  why  the 
rose  of  the  prairie  was  not  the  rose  of  the  garden  ? why  the 
daisy,  through  thousands  and  thousands  of  years,  has  been 
struggling  on  the  mountain  side  to  grow  out  of  mosses  and 
lichens  ? Look  back  to  the  eternity  of  the  past ; consider 
the  eternity  of  the  future,  before  thou  dost  presume  to  judge 
the  fragment  of  the  present.  It  is  in  the  past  and  in  the 
future  that  the  causes  and  effects  of  the  present  are  to  be 
found.  There  stands  the  criminal  — an  isolated  grain  of 
sand,  the  Jong  history  of  the  past  upon  him,  the  long  history 
of  the  future  yet  before  him.  Place  thyself  beside  him,  and 
then  pronounce  upon  him.  Until  thou  dost,  he  stands  before 
thee  as  the  acorn  does  to  the  tree  ; he  stands  before  thee  as 
the  egg  does  to  the  eagle  ; he  stands  before  thee  as  the 
ancient  earth  does  to  the  modern  ; he  stands  before  thee  as 
the  planet  of  this  earth,  or  the  planet  Venus,  or  Mercury, 
do  to  the  remote  planets,  Saturn  and  Uranus,  with  their 
many  moons,  their  numerous  satellites,  and  their  glorious 
destiny,  as  the  sun  to  a solar  system,  yet  looming  up  before 
them.  It  is  not  in  the  present  that  thou  canst  afford  to  com- 
prehend the  wise,  and  ever  acting  God.  It  is  in  contem- 
plating his  greatness,  in  recognizing  the  cause,  in  tracing  out 
the  effect,  that  man’s  real  destiny  is  elaborated.  It  is  notin 
a portion,  it  is  in  the  immensity  of  the  whole,  in  viewing  the 
long  vistas  of  being,  that  thou  shalt  find  that  thy  God  doeth 
all  things  well. 

There  is  but  one  more  part  of  our  parable  to  which  we 
would  invite  your  attention.  Pilgrim  of  the  past,  thou  must 
behold  every  art,  every  science  grow  out  of  the  Rock  of 
Ages.  Thou  must  perceive,  from  the  buried  cities  of  the 
East,  a spirit  of  civilization  taking  wing,  and  elaborating 
itself  in  the  future.  Thou  must  perceive,  in  the  past  times, 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


T3 


how*an  unknown  man  gathered  leaves,  and  the  world  laughed 
at  him  as  a fool,  as  a dunce.  Thou  must  perceive  how  one 
of  the  next  generation  also  gathered  leaves,  and  still  the 
world  sneered,  and  asked  him  what  he  would  do  with  them. 
Thou  must  observe,  in  the  next  generation,  leaf-gatherers 
arose,  and  they  wrote  upon  the  leaves.  They  found  out  the 
art  of  stereotyping  their  thoughts  upon  them.  Generation 
after  generation  fled  by,  and  still  men  gathered  leaves,  and 
still  they  wrote  upon  them ; but  as  thoughts  grew  larger, 
leaves  were  insufficient,  and  men  began  to  gather  the  bark. 
As  the  thought  grew  yet  larger  and  larger,  and  as  the  imagina- 
tion of  man  expanded  until  it  filled  the  world,  every  portion 
of  the  world  asked  that  it  might  share  in  man’s  thought. 
Then,  instead  of  gathering  leaves,  men  began  to  gather  rags, 
and  the  world  laughed  at  the  rag-pickers  ; but  the  next  gene- 
ration wove  the  rags  into  paper,  and  the  next  generation 
wrote  upon  it ; the  next  generation  grew  wise  upon  the 
paper,  and  succeeding  generations  began  to  unite,  with  the 
paper,  wood,  and  iron,  and  stone,  and  brass,  and  wheels,  and 
bands,  and  cylinders,  and  at  last  formed  out  of  them  the 
printing  press ; and  ye,  with  the  printing  press,  now  gather 
all  minds  of  all  generations  in  your  midst.  Ye  stand,  men 
of  this  age,  like  one  gigantic  human  soul,  with  a memory 
extending  back  to  all  times,  with  all  its  history,  and  tradi- 
tions, and  records, and  happiness, spread  out  before  you;  and 
ye  are  possessed  of  all  this  through  the  leaf-gatherers,  who 
first  learned  to  stereotype  thoughts  by  experimenting  upon 
leaves. 

Turn  we  from  the  past,  and  gaze  we  at  the  present,  Oh 
Pilgrim  ! But  still  the  pilgrim  murmurs,  and  cries,  “ I paint, 
and  none  purchase  my  painting.  I make  music,  and  the 
world  heeds  me  not.  I write  books,  and  none  will  read 
them.  I have  not  the  stamp  of  fashion  upon  me.  I pass 
from  door  to  door,  threadbare,  and  poverty-stricken,  and  none 
heed  me.  Oh,  let  me  perish.  Let  me  perish,  or  let  me  pass 
to  my  desert  once  again.  I have  tasted  civilization,  and  I 
find  it  good  for  every  one  but  myself;  I labor  in  vain.” 
And  the  man  passed  from  civilization  once  again  to  his  desert. 


74 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


It  is  the  last  act  in  his  drama  of  life.  Once  again  there 
is  nothing  around  him  that  bears  the  stamp  of  life  to  disturb 
him.  He  is  glad  that  he  is  alone  in  the  far  remote  solitudes 
of  nature,  and  as  he  looks  upon  the  luscious  fruits,  upon  the 
overhanging  trees,  upon  the  glorious  flowers,  he  murmurs, 
and  cries,  When  the  thousands,  and  the  millions  in  the  cities 
of  civilization  are  starving,  why  is  there  this  great  waste  of 
useful  things  ? Why  are  these  delicious  fruits  and  glorious 
flowers  permitted  to  exist  where  there  is  no  man  to  be  bene- 
fited by  them  ? The  glorious  sun  went  down,  and  the  golden 
and  purple  curtains  of  his  midnight  couch  hung  forth 
resplendent  in  the  sky.  Then  the  pilgrim  looked  upon  the 
radiant  Aurora.  He  beheld  the  magnificent  banks  of  golden 
clouds  piled  up  in  splendid  panorama,  that  would  have 
lightened  up  the  soul  of  an  artist  to  ecstacy,  and  he  cried, 
Why  so  much  loveliness  wasted  in  the  desert,  where  there  are 
none  to  look  upon  it;  and  as  he  murmured,  he  slept;  and  in 
the  visions  of  the  night  he  beheld,  once  more,  the  great 
ladder,  seen  by  the  transported  spirit  of  the  sleeping  Patri- 
arch of  old.  Once  again  he  saw  the  angel  feet  of  God’s 
ministers  passing  up  and  down  the  ladder.  They  descended 
until  they  reached  the  earth,  and  he  beheld  the  faces  of  long 
ago,  the  forms  of  the  buried  dead,  now  grown  radiant  in 
angelic  loveliness.  He  saw  them  watering  the  earth  ; he 
beheld  them  cultivating  the  flowers ; he  perceived  that  they 
were  everywhere  busied  in  the  midst  of  these  solitudes, 
adorning  these  beautiful  portions  of  intense  and  lonely,  soli- 
tude, and  he  cried,  “ Is  this  the  only  occupation  for  departed 
spirits  ? Is  this  the  only  meed  of  service  which  they  can 
render  to  their  God ; to  train  flowers  where  there  are  none 
to  see,  to  plant  trees  where  they  are  none  to  shelter,  to  raise 
fruits  where  there  are  none  to  partake  ?”  As  he  murmured, 
he  beheld  the  dim  shadows  of  the  future  spreading  over  the 
plain.  First  came  the  strong  pioneer  with  his  axe  ; then  came 
the  little  log  hut,  the  work  of  his  hands;  others  flocked 
unto  him.  First  appeared  the  rudimental  hamlet,  then  the 
town,  and  then  the  city.  And  as  the  congregation  of  men 
all  flocked  to  this  beautiful  paradise,  they  found  all  prepared 


THE  CREATOR  AND  HIS  ATTRIBUTES. 


75 


for  them.  Flowers,  and  fruits,  and  trees,  and  grass,  that  for 
millions  of  ages  had  been  silent  and  lonely,  were  now  used 
/for  the  habitations  of  men.  And  as  he  walked  in  imagina- 
tion through  the  future  city,  he  beheld  his  own  picture  on 
the  walls,  his  own  statues  in  the  galleries  ; heard  the  chanting 
of  his  own  music,  rejoicing  the  hearts  of  future  generations; 
heard  the  echo  of  his  own  phrases  inspiring  the  lips  of  those 
who  could  not  read  them  for  themselves  ; he  beheld  all  the 
uses  of  the  long  buried  past  flashing  up  in  the  glorious  light 
of  the  future.  “ God  doeth  all  things  well,”  he  cried. 
“ Silence,  murmurs,  silence,  pilgrims  of  earth;  if  there  be  not 
a God,  Atoms,  be  ye  my  God.  Sun,  Stars,  Systems,  ye  have 
done  what  I could  not ; ye  have  fashioned  me ; ye  shall  be 
my  God,  if  Mind  has  not  done  it.  At  every  step  of  my 
pilgrimage  I trace  the  action  of  calculation,  order,  design. 
Behind  every  darkness  I perceive  the  beneficent  purpose  of  a 
kind  and  loving  thought,  which  has  thus  calculated,  and  thus 
designed  in  the  elaboration  of  every  earthly  thing.  I find 
the  design  outworked  in  light,  yet  more  light.”  Falling  on 
his  knees  before  the  viewless  spirit,  before  the  immense  soul 
which  fills  all. space — that  is  to  the  body  of  the  universe  as 
thy  soul  is  to  thee,  the  pilgrim  cried,  “ Our  Father,  thou 
doest  all  things  well.” 

Spiritualists,  Investigators,  this  is  the  God  of  Creation ; 
where  he  is,  thou,  Oh  fragment ! hast  but  to  look  around  thee 
to  discover.  Search  him  out.  Search  him  through  science  ; 
search  him  through  the  scriptures  of  his  works ; rear  him  in 
the  gospel  of  his  goodness ; trace  him  in  the  magnificence  of 
his  power.  Know  him  in  thy  knowledge  which  is  power, 
then  shalt  thou  cry  out  with  the  pilgrim  of  old  : “ Though  I 
cannot  see  thee — though  I,  the  fragment,  can  never  know  the 
infinite,  I am,  Oh  God ! and  therefore  thou  must  be. 


LECTURE  FOURTH. 


SPIRIT— ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


Delivered  at  Kingsbury  Hall,  Sunday  Evening,  Oct.  28,  1860. 


[Miss  Hardinge  appeared  at  20  minutes  before  8 o’clock,  and  spoke  as  follows :] 

To-night  it  is  our  purpose  to  consider  that  magnificent 
element  of  being  that  vitalizes  your  own  existence — the  spirit 
within  you.  Up  to  this  age,  the  world’s  opinions  upon  this 
point  have  been  opinions  merely.  Theories,  oftentimes  grand 
and  sublime,  revelations  containing  scintillating  lights  of 
truth,  have  been  presented  to  humanity,  descriptive  of  that 
most  glorious  essence  called  soul.  The  day  of  speculation 
has  gone  by.  Living  souls  take  their  part  in  the  game  of 
life,  proving  their  opinions  in  the  great  conflict  of  mortal 
existence,  dazzling  with  their  radiant  brightness  the  eyes  of 
human  spectators,  acting  with  a force  that  proves  their 
material  existence  with  all  the  attributes  of  human  nature, 
adding  ten-fold  to  the  sublime  revelations  of  a higher  life. 
Such  beings  are  now  in  your  midst.  LThe  possibility  of  the 
existence  of  spirit,  independent  of  matter,  is  settled  forever ; 
the  problem  is  solved^}  The  great  speculation,  or  field  of 
speculation  concerning  what  the  spirit  may  be,  is  capable  of 
scientific  and  demonstrative  evidence.  We  have  therefore 
the  rule  of  fact,  we  have  the  testimony  of  visible,  moving 
witnesses,  to  establish  every  statement  which  we  now  proceed 
to  make.  There  are  certain  preliminary  facts  which  must 
lie  borne  in  mind.  We  shall  no  more  open  up  to  you  the 
page  of  speculation,  but  present  to  you  historical  and  living 
evidence  of  what  is  spirit. 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


77 


Again,  knowledge  is  power.  The  knowledge  which  ye 
possess  of  yourselves  will  open  a vast  vista  to  the  inquiring 
mind  concerning  the  rule  you  may  exercise  upon  your  own 
destiny.  Furthermore,  we  would  advise  all  who  wait 
upon  these  utterances  this  night,  that  what  we  shall  present 
to  you  we  do  not  desire  to  offer  with  the  freshness  of  origi- 
nality, or  wonder,  or  novelty,  or  for  the  sake  of  dazzling 
your  minds.  Spiritualism  is  no  more  dependent  upon  its  test 
facts  for  its  existence ; Spiritualism  no  more  requires  of  its 
exponents  a speech — a collection,  to  prove  that  a power 
stronger  and  mightier  than  the  spirit  possessing  the  brain 
itself  is  addressing  you.  The  words  which  we  have  to  utter 
now,  belong  to  doctrine ; those  which  we  are  about  to  present 
to  you,  belong  to  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  knowledge  and 
revelation.  Hence  we  have  presented  the  thoughts,  and 
shall  do  so  again,  wherever  a field  is  open  for  our  utterance, 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  continent;  the 
principles  of  Spiritualism,  rather  than  the  phenomena,  are 
now  demanded.  Look  not,  therefore,  either  for  novelty,  for 
the  mere  aggregation  of  flowery  words,  nor  yet  for  the  pre- 
sentation of  a thought  that  may  not  have  possessed  your 
brain  before.  What  we  shall  now  offer  are  the  results  of  all 
those  fragments  of  light  which  man  has  hitherto  been  attempt- 
ing to  combine ; those  facts  which  all  must  learn  before  they 
can  pretend  to  classify  them ; that  problem  which  nothing 
but  these  facts  can  thoroughly  elucidate.  What  is  spirit? 
Whence  its  origin  ? What  is  its  destiny  ? These  will  be 
the  themes  of  the  night. 

In  the  first  place,  we  find  ourselves  in  the  position  to 
answer  the  great  and  transcendental  problem  of  the  nature 
and  substance  of  spirit.  And  thus  do  we  propose  to  classify. 
Some  two  centuries  ago,  the  world  believed  there  was  nothing 
but  solid  and  fluid,  besides  the  imponderable,  ethereal,  incom- 
prehensible essence,  or  existence,  which  they  termed  spirit. 
Of  its  nature,  of  its  substance,  none  could  conceive,  beyond 
its  association  with  that  mysterious  conception  which  men 
term  God.  Within  two  hundred  years,  yet  a third  element 


78 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


has  been  added  to  matter — gas.  Within  half  a century,  a 
fourth  has  been  discovered — electricity.  Solids  and  fluids 
are  various  in  their  manifestations;  gases  are  not.  Yery 
few  are  known.  The  imponderable  air  as  yet  divides  itself 
into  very  few,  if  more  than  two  gases.  It  is  now  even  ques- 
tioned whether  there  be  more  than  two  primal  forces  which 
resolve  themselves  into  the  world  of  gas,  viz.,  hydrogen  and 
oxygen.  Again,  we  find  that  electricity  is  dual  in  its  mani- 
festations ; it  attracts  by  attraction  and  repulsion  only.  This 
brings  us,  then,  to  the  possibility  of  one  great  primal.  As 
you  cannot  dissolve  electricity,  as  there  is  no  evidence  that 
it  is  a compound,  while  yet  it  moves  in  only  two  directions, 
attraction  and  repulsion,  we  have  the  intelligential  evidence 
at  least  to  rest  upon,  that  we  can  only  search  for  one  more 
element,  and  find  this  in  the  primal  element  which  we  term 
spirit — that  which  we  this  day  discussed  by  the  name  God, 
which  is  only  found  by  the  manifestation  of  active  power. 
This  we  claim  to  be  a substance  coeval  with  matter ; this  we 
claim  to  be  the  active  power,  force,  substance,  which  moves, 
sways  and  controls  matter,  and  uses  electricity  as  its  tool. 
Spirit  acting  thus  upon  matter,  has  first  divided  itself  into 
gas,  theji  fluid,  and  finally  solids.  Spirit,  then,  we  take  to 
be  the  primal  source  of  all  things.  The  aggregation,  or 
totality,  we  call  God.  The  fragments,  the  details,  the  atoms 
of  spirit,  form  the  soul  of  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  as  worlds, 
suns,  systems,  crusts  of  earth,  and  grains  of  sand,  form  the 
body  of  God.  I am  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first  and  the 
last.  I am  he  that  was  dead,  and  behold  I am  alive  forever- 
more. This  is  the  assertion  that  separates  you  fragments  of 
spirit  from  the  Alpha  and  Omega,  that  is  the  first  and  the 
last ; Spirit  being  the  Alpha,  the  Omega ; you,  fragments  of 
spirit,  are  he  that  liveth  and  was  dead,  and  behold  you  shall 
live  forevermore. 

We  now  ask  you  to  follow  us,  whilst  we  trace  up  the  first 
manifestations  of  spirit  in  this  earth.  We  must  commence 
once  more  by  reminding  you  of  the  division  between  life  and 
spirit.  Wo  observe  that  life  is  not  spirit.  We  remark  that 


SPIRIT — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


T9 


man  has  a structure — a body,  a life,  and  a spirit ; the  body  is 
the  form  of  matter ; the  life,  that  electricity  which  we  claim  to 
be  the  tool  that  acts  upon  matter ; spirit,  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple that  controls  and  directs  it.  There  are  innumerable 
phenomenal  evidences  in  your  own  daily  routine,  proving  the 
separation  of  life  and  spirit.  We  find  that  there  are  times 
when  the  spirit  acts  independent  of  that  which  you  term  life, 
in  the  condition  called  sleep.  In  visions  of  the  night,  your 
spirit  is  active ; your  consciousness  is  taking  cognizance  of 
scenes  far  remote  from  where  your  body,  with  its  throbbing 
life,  is  still  in  existence.  That  life  is  beating  and  visible  in 
every  pulse  and  through  every  vein,  and  yet  the  spirit  is  as 
absolutely  separated  from  it  as  the  consciousness  of  distant 
scenes  is  removed  from  the  place  where  your  body  lies.  In 
the  state  termed  Clairvoyance,  or  clear-seeing,  there  is  no 
action  of  will ; there  is  no  thought ; there  is  no  evidence  that 
the  life  follows  the  spirit ; yet  the  spirit  is  away  across  the 
wide  ocean  ; the  spirit  is  in  the  depths  of  the  captive’s  dun- 
geon ; the  spirit  is  in  the  cloudy  regions,  far  off  in  space  ; it 
is  away  among  the  shining  stars,  in  the  land  of  souls,  in  that 
remote  realm  where  nothing  of  flesh  and  blood  can  enter. 
The  spirit  is  far  away,  and  yet  the  life  is  present.  And  so  is 
the  body ; still  the  silver  cord  is  not  loosened  ; still  the 
golden  bowl  is  not  broken.  In  the  state  of  catalepsy,  or 
trance,  or  even  in  the  condition  which  you  term  abstraction, 
when  the  thought  is  far  away,  mingling  writh  the  sweet  home 
scenes,  the  spirit  does  not  act  with  the  body ; still  the  life  is 
there.  The  other  condition,  that  of  the  corpse,  the  strange, 
marble  state  of  death,  the  cold,  stony,  immovable  form  that 
lies  so  helpless  and  hopeless  before  you,  is  an  evidence,  not 
only  that  the  thought  is  gone,  but  that  the  warm,  beating, 
quivering  life  is  absent  also.  Nevermore,  nevermore  shall 
the  pitcher  broken  at  the  fountain,  the  wheel  broken  at  the 
cistern,  be  united  to  the  glorious  empire  of  thought.  The  uses 
of  the  body  are  ended,  and  the  warm,  quivering  life  has  now 
left  forever.  We  could  instance  innumerable  other  illustra- 
tions to  prove  to  you  that  the  mysterious  flow  of  life  preserves 


80 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


the  body  in  that  condition  as  the  tenement  for  the  spirit,  but 
life  itself  is  not  the  thought,  is  not  the  spirit.  We  shall, 
however,  proceed  to  give  some  other  evidences  of  the  diversity 
of  the  element  of  spirit  and  life,  proving  the  fact  that  the  life 
has  an  independent  existence,  and  is  one  of  the  attributes  of 
matter.  We  observe  that  your  psychologists  and  your  astro- 
nomers are  now  ranked  with  your  physiologists  in  tracing  up 
the  history  of  the  manifestation  of  spirit.  We  find,  since 
science  and  religion  have  united  in  that  great  wedding,  that 
the  product  of  each  is  the  spiritual  life  which  we  now  possess. 
We  find,  since  science  demonstrates  religion,  and  religion  is 
enabled  to  point  to  the  facts  of  science  to  prove  herself,  that 
we  have  a vast  array  of  illustrations,  all  of  which  are  tending 
to  exalt  the  name  of  that  mighty  Alpha  and  Omega,  who, 
hitherto,  has  been  placed  so  remote  from  his  works.  Tracing 
this  up  by  such  lights  as  fragmentary  science  can  afford,  we 
find  there  was  a time  when  this  old  earth  possessed  the  two 
great  elements  of  body  and  life  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
but  manifesting  no  other  evidence  of  spirit  but  such  as  the 
Divine  impressed  upon  it  by  his  laws.  At  this  period  of  the 
earth’s  history,  we  are  told  by  geology  that  there  could  be 
no  life  ; there  could  be  no  spirit  — none  of  those  organic 
forms  that  are  capable  of  manifesting  spirit.  We  take  the 
testimony  of  the  ancient  rocks ; we  open  up  the  monumental 
pages  of  the  great  stone-book,  and  there,  written  in  hiero- 
glyphics by  the  finger  of  the  Almighty  himself,  do  we  find 
that  there  was  a time,  thousands  and  thousands  of  years  away 
in  the  remote  past,  wThen  certain  forms  of  rocks,  known  as 
the  primary  or  Azoic  rocks,  did  not  embrace  the  element 
called  carbon.  We  find,  therefore,  in  order  to  account  for 
the  presence  of  this  carbon  in  later  formations,  that  we  must 
believe  it  was  disseminated  in  vast  masses  through  the  at- 
mosphere; in  such  vast  accumulations  that  no  creature,  re- 
quiring the  element  of  atmosphere  to  sustain  its  life,  could 
then  have  inhabited  the  earth.  In  testimony  to  this  fact,  we 
search  in  vain  for  organic  remains  in  these  ancient  rocks  ; 
none  are  to  bo  found.  We  have  here  then  the  standing  evi- 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


81 


deuce  that  whilst  life  everywhere  prevails,  spirit  was  not. 
The  only  thought  we  can  trace  in  the  grand  sea  of  forms  that 
are  everywhere  present  around  us,  is  the  action  of  the  great 
Spirit,  the  silent  working  of  those  viewless  ministers,  whom 
we  suppose  to  be  the  agents,  impressing  his  eternal  thoughts 
upon  matter.  There  must  have  been  vast  convulsions  in  the 
ancient  seas,  by  which  huge  continents  were  upheaved  from 
the  bosom  of  the  deep.  There  must  have  been  the  sweep  of 
vast  tempests,  the  bellowing  of  mighty  winds ; there  must 
have  been  the  crash  of  the  volcano,  and  the  thunder  of  the 
falling  rocks.  The  wild,  tempestuous  career  of  the  elements 
were  the  only  voices  that  hoarsely  told  that  the  Master’s  bid- 
ding was  being  done.  In  the  midst  of  these  mighty  changes, 
trembling,  shrinking  fragments  of  spirit  could  have  had  no 
existence.  Vast  rocks  upheaved  their  desolate  heads  to  the 
murky  sky  ; the  red  flame  leaping  from  the  mouth  of  burning 
chambers  of  the  fire-king,  and  the  terrible  thunder  of  raging 
winds,  falling  rocks  and  seething  waters,  were  the  only  sounds 
that  broke  the  awful  stillness  of  that  vast  and  desolate  sea. 
At  last  the  earth  had  a period  when  we  find  the  marks  of 
creeping  things ; when  we  perceive  upon  the  ancient  rocks 
traces  of  creatures  capable  of  volition,  of  passing  from  one 
place  to  another.  From  the  very  moment  when  we  find  the 
forms  of  life  capable  of  leaving  the  place  where  God  had 
planted  them,  and  of  governing  their  motion  by  their  own 
will,  do  we  find  the  fragments  of  a spiritual  existence. 

We  know  the  world  is  accustomed  to  sneer  at  what  is 
called  the  development  theory.  We  are  not  advocating  it 
this  night.  We  do  not  enter  into  the  fragments  or  details  of 
this  science,  because  the  world’s  sneer  and  mocking  laugh 
are  so  very  loud  that  they  drown  the  low,  still  voice  of  the 
Infinite  One,  speaking  from  out  of  the  ground  like  a familiar 
spirit — a spirit  so  near  and  dear  to  human  sense,  that  at  last 
its  appeal  is  heard.  To-night,  until  the  whirlwind  of  passion 
and  tempest  of  scientific  jargon  are  passed  by,  we  are  con- 
tented to  have  our  God’s  works  in  lieu  of  man’s  word,  and 
again  tell  you  that  we  find  that  the  first  forms  thus  manifested 
6 


I 


82  SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


upon  the  ancient  rocks  were  ever  the  most  simple.  Permit 
us  now  to  give  you  some  fragmentary  view  of  the  action  of 
the  Almighty  in  matter,  as  preparatory  to  the  forms  which 
afterwards  reared  themselves  up  into  the  noble  structure  of 
manhood.  We  find  that  the  first  forms  of  life,  then,  were 
very  simple.  We  find  that  the  first  aggregation  of  matter 
was  a mere  gelatinous  mass — sea-monsters,  very  little  more 
than  accumulations  of  that  matter  that  first  appeared  in  the 
transition  state  between  the  fluid  and  the  solid.  We  next 
trace  up  these  forms  to  a little  higher  perfection,  and  then 
we  begin  to  discover  the  rudiments  of  four  primary  forms 
that  are  now  perfected  in  man.  These  are  the  heart,  the 
brain,  the  spine  and  the  lungs.  Gradually  we  find  each  of 
these  four  great  centres  of  being  becoming  more  and  more 
elaborate,  until  at  last  the  spinal  cord  stretches  out  into  a 
long,  continuous  string,  and  finally  assumes  the  vertebrated 
condition.  The  spine  of  the  radiata  gradually  expands  and 
hardens  until  it  forms  a kind  of  column,  then  the  final  termi- 
nation of  this  spinal  cord  begins  to  manifest  the  rudiments 
of  a brain,  very  small  and  very  insufficient, — nothing  but  a 
mere  gelatinous  mass  at  first,  but  gradually  enlarging,  and 
becoming  more  conspicuous.  Then  we  begin  to  perceive  the 
centre  from  which  flows  out  the  warmth  of  vitality — the 
heart.  At  first  it  is  but  a mere  speck — a mere  central  point ; 
gradually  it  begins  to  harden  and  band  together,  until  at  last 
it  assumes  the  form  of  a solid  long  point.  Then  we  begin 
to  notice  there  is  an  apparatus  for  inhaling  the  atmosphere. 
You  smile  when  you  hear  of  atmosphere  in  the  ancient  seas. 
But  know  that  in  (every  drop  of  water,  that  oxygen  which 
you  now  breathe  is  held  in  solution.  The  ancient  seas  were 
as  full  of  oxygen  as  the  sea  is  now,  and  the  apparatus  by 
which  the  most  perfect  leviathan  of  the  deep  is  enabled  to 
sustain  its  life,  is  so  contrived  as  to  breathe  the  atmosphere  of 
oxygen  gas  held  in  solution  in  the  water.  These,  then,  are 
the  four  points  around  which  the  rudiments  of  foriij  began  to 
spring  and  gather.  Gradually  we  find  these  elaborating 
until  at  last  they  assume  a perfectness  that  enables  the  mon- 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


ster  to  leave  the  deep  and  pass  his  existence  partly  on  the 
dry  land,  or  that  condition  which  at  first  appeared.  Then 
forms  assume  the  nature,  first  of  the  amphibious  beast,  and 
then  of  the  reptile.  Gradually,  as  the  wild  winds  sweep 
over  the  vast  masses  of  heaving  billows,  as  continents  are 
upheaved,  and  the  sun  struggles  through  the  murky  atmos- 
phere, we  find  that  the  dry  land  increases  ; vegetation  begins 
to  manifest  itself,  and  with  it  creatures  capable  of  subsisting 
upon  land  by  vegetation.  Then  the  forms  become  more  com- 
plex and  beautiful,  their  atoms  more  perfect ; they  leave  the 
condition  of  fluid  life,  fish,  and  assume  the  more  solid  form 
of  bird,  beast  and  insect.  With  every  step  in  the  ascending 
scale  of  being,  these  forms  become  more  and  more  beautiful 
and  more  and  more  perfect — become  the  manifestation  of 
thought.  But  we  shall  not  pause  in  tracing  up  form  until 
we  have  arrived  at  the  last  and  most  noble  tenement,  for 
which  the  Creator  during  untold  ages  has  been  preparing. 
Were  you  to  go  into  the  anatomical  museums,  even  to  pass 
through  the  museums  of  natural  history,  and  spell  out  there 
the  skeletons  of  ancient  monsters,  trace  up  there  the  ever- 
progressing  rudiments  of  which  we  have  spoken,  as  manifested 
in  forms  of  fish,  bird,  insect  and  beast,  how  strange  would 
appear  the  caricatures  of  humanity  which  everywhere  pre- 
sented themselves ! How  wonderful  would  appear  the  strug- 
gle which  nature  has  everywhere  manifested  to  perfect  form ! 
How  magnificent  would  it  appear  were  you  to  step  into  her 
laboratory,  and  perceive  with  what  care  she  has  at  once  shot 
out  the  thousand  arms  of  the  radiated  animal,  and  then  com- 
pressed them  until  they  formed  the  heavy  paws  of  ancient 
monsters!  How  she  has  gradually  narrowed  down  and 
hardened  the  strange  excrescences  that  appear  upon  the 
ancient  fish,  until  she  fashions  the  full  and  perfect  form  of 
the  lords  of  the  desert,  and  the  inhabitants  of  caves  and 
forests ! How  gradually  the  ancient  monsters  became  extinct 
and  the  atoms  of  organic  animal  life  gave  place  to  more  per- 
fected forms,  until  at  last,  from  the  mere  caricatures  of 
manhood,  the  beautiful  and  the  perfect  apex  himself  appears 


84 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY, 


upon  the  stage  of  creation ! The  spine  no  more  runs  later- 
ally with  the  ground, — the  sun  supplying  the  brain  by  the 
spine.  The  head  is  now  erect,  and  supplies  the  spine ; the 
brain  drinks  in  direct  the  solar  ray  itself,  and  from  it,  like  a 
great  captain  giving  orders,  and  sending  out  to  his  legions 
each  its  separate  place  in  creation,  this  brain  supplies  the 
rest  of  the  body.  The  noble  column  is  now  erect ; that 
spinal  cord  which  was  once  but  a mere  string,  has  grown  into 
a splendid  column,  around  which  is  grouped  all  the  won- 
derful machinery  of  man,  crowned  by  the  great  apex  of  brain, 
containing  the  divine  spark  of  thought.  The  heart,  too,  has 
now  become  perfected,  and  performs  its  wonderful  functions 
— the  vital  circulation  of  which  we  spoke  to  you  to-day. 
A great  galvanic  apparatus  is  now  planted  in  the  lungs — no 
more  the  imperfect  gills  of  the  fish,  no  more  the  strange  and 
rudimental  apparatus  which  we  find  in  so  many  animals  ; 
but  the  most  perfect  of  all  the  galvanic  batteries  for  elabo- 
rating the  atmosphere  that  ever  the  mind  of  man  could  con- 
ceive of ; not  fashioned  by  man’s  ingenuity,  for  all  that  man 
has  done,  is  but  the  imitation  of  what  his  God  has  modeled 
before  him.  The  most  perfect  system  of  mechanics  in  all  the 
hinges  and  levers  of  joint,  and  muscle,  and  bone,  forms  the 
moving  structure  of  the  whole  system.  The  most  marvellous 
arrangement  of  hydrostatics  appears  in  the  movements  of  all 
the  fluids  that  permeate  the  body.  Here  is  the  perfected 
brain,  the  perfected  heart,  the  perfected  spine,  and  the  per- 
fected lung.  This  is  the  last  great  work  of  creation,  and 
here  form  ends.  All  the  various  endeavors  of  nature  to 
fashion  creatures  that  were  capable  of  using  the  element  of 
matter  to  supply  their  own  wants,  are  finished  in  the  exqui- 
site structure  of  the  hand.  All  the  most  perfect  powers  of 
locomotion  are  combined  and  finished  in  the  limbs  and  feet. 
In  a word,  whatever  nature  has  been  aiming  at,  all  she  has 
struggled  for,  all  that  for  millions  of  years  she  has  ex- 
perimented with,  in  the  laboratory  of  matter  and  form,  she  has 
at  last  completed  in  the  magnificent  structure  of  man.  Here 
form  ends. 


SPIRIT— ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


85 


Your  chemists  tell  you  that  there  is  within  you  the  ele- 
ments of  lime,  chalk,  phosphorus,  and  various  other  sub- 
stances, some  of  which  they  term  primaries.  They  tell  you 
that  the  same  elements  are  found  in  the  rocks,  where  ancient 
monsters  have  deposited  their  remains ; and  your  chemists 
tell  you  that  all  the  primaries  of  the  decomposing  forms  of 
men,  and  of  animals,  are  the  same.  They  have  used  in  medi- 
cine these  various  primaries,  but  not  with  the  same  effect. 
One  of  the  observations  of  the  nineteenth  century — one  of  the 
daring  speculations,  the  result  of  which  has  been  to  prove  the 
position  that  we  are  about  to  take,  has  been  this : That  the 
decomposing  form  of  man  gives  forth  a progressive  matter 
gives  forth  primaries  as  much  progressed  as  the  rose  of  the 
garden  is  progressed  beyond  the  rose  of  the  prairie.  Aye, 
is  it  so.  Then,  with  every  new  stratum,  and  every  new  spe- 
cies, with  all  the  various  contrivances  of  nature  to  elaborate 
higher  and  yet  higher  forms,  we  find  that  nature  has  been 
manipulating  her  atoms  until  at  last  she  has  succeeded  in  per- 
fecting the  very  grain  of  dust,  of  which  the  lowest  forms  of 
animals  are  composed,  into  the  magnificent  being  called  Man. 
When  was  man  capable  of  assuming  this  sovereign  place  in 
creation  ? Not  until  nature  had  gone  through  with  her  long 
series  of  experiments ; not  until,  by  the  elaboration  of  ages 
of  change,  the  atoms  of  matter  had  come  up  to  the  point  to 
form  his  most  beautiful,  his  most  perfect  structure.  Thus 
much  of  form.  A word  now  of  spirit. 

Man  stands,  as  we  have  claimed,  the  last,  the  ultimate,  the 
perfection  of  forms.  What  is  in  spirit?  We  may  divide 
the  manifestations  of  his  spirit  into  five' separate  portions. 
First  we  have  the  sensuous ; then  the  affectional ; then  the 
moral;  then  the  intellectual ; and  finally  the  spiritual.  The 
life  of  man  manifests  all  these  different  varieties  of  capacity. 
We  perceive  in  the  body  the  first  element,  that  is  the  sensu- 
ous. It  has  atoms  to  supply  itself  with  aliment.  Then 
comes  the  affection al,  that  discriminates  between  those  who 
surround  it.  Then  comes  the  moral,  which  in  the  child  takes 
note  of  the  rights  of  others,  and  manifests  all  the  capacity  to 


86 


SPIRIT — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY, 


discriminate  between  self-justice,  and  justice  to  others.  Then 
comes  the  intellectual,  the  craving  after  arts  and  sciences,  and 
employment  in  the  elements  of  matter,  employment  in  govern- 
ing and  controlling  the  forces  of  nature,  the  reproducing  of 
forms  by  invention,  and  going  forth  to  discover  other  arts  and 
sciences.  And  finally  comes  the  spiritual,  the  tendency  to 
worship,  the  longing  after  the  unknown,  the  restless  prying 
into  the  dim  mysteries  of  the  future,  and  the  vast  realm  of 
speculation  drawn  from  the  wondrous  past ; the  question, 
whence  do  I come,  and  whither  am  I bound.  In  man,  we 
perceive  the  concentration  of  all  these  possibilities — all  these 
elements,  and  we  call  the  aggregation,  mind.  We  look  in 
vain  for  them  in  the  lower  kingdoms  of  animal  life.  Oh, 
Man  ! what  part  of  thy  brain — that  grasping,  soaring  mind, 
which  thou  dost  locate  in  thy  brain — what  faculty  is  there, 
which  nature,  with  equal  care  for  spirit  as  for  form,  has  not 
prepared  in  the  lower  animals  before  thee  ? Where  do  you 
find  in  one  single  plane  of  animal  existence  that  there  is  an 
absence  of  that  you  term  the  sensuous  instinct ; the  absence 
of  that  discrimination  which  enables  every  creature,  from  the 
ancient  sea-monster  to  the  soaring  eagle,  to  discriminate 
among  the  forms  of  nature,  and  supply  itself  with  the  ali- 
ment most  suitable  to  its  being  ? Where  do  we  find  that  any 
portion  of  nature,  even  among  the  lowest  and  strangest  of 
the  old  monsters,  were  destitute  of  the  faculty  of  prevision  ; 
were  destitute  of  the  faculty  to  calculate  chances,  and  not 
only  to  acquire  the  food  necessary  to  sustain  them,  but  to  cal- 
culate and  provide  for  the  morrow — to  heap  little  stores 
against  the  storm — to  prepare  for  the  coming  winter — to 
anticipate  the  joyous  spring — to  revel  in  the  golden  summer, 
and  the  bounteous  autumn — to  count,  to  calculate,  to  fore- 
cast for  the  winter?  Where  do  we  find  that  the  low- 
est manifestations  of  animal  life  in  nature  are  destitute  of 
the  capacity  to  discriminate  among  earths,  seas,  rocks,  vegeta- 
bles, and  all  the  various  forms  where  it  makes  its  habitation, 
and  upon  which  it  sustains  life?  We  find  the  affectional 
capacity  developed  in  the  animal  world.  Where  do  we  find 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


87 


a single  creature  that  ever  existed,  but  what  manifests  love  for 
its  kind  ? They  are  gregarious,  and  associate  together  in 
tribes  and  species,  manifesting  affection  for  one  another. 
The  love  of  offspring,  the  organ  of  philoprogenitiveness,  as 
you  call  it  in  humanity,  is  as  innate  and  as  essential  to  the 
lowest  forms  of  life  as  it  is  to  yourselves.  The  love  of  off- 
spring indeed  is  so  closely  developed  in  all  the  forms  of  animal 
life,  that  man  might  well  take  pattern  from  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  and  find  in  the  character  of  bird,  and  fish,  and  insect, 
no  less  than  in  the  lords  of  the  forest,  how  the  Almighty  has 
associated  by  the  sweet  ties  of  affection  every  creature,  how- 
ever uncouth  or  grotesque,  one  with  another,  chaining  up  in  the 
magnificent  links  of  harmony,  the  lowest  forms  to  the  highest 
creations  of  the  angelic  worlds.  We  find,  again,  the  moral 
qualities  are  not  deficient  in  the  animal.  It  is  not  alone  his 
creatures,  that  we  perceive,  day  by  day,  on  the  prairies,  in  the 
plain,  and  in  the  forests,  that  have  law  and  power  among 
themselves.  It  is  not  alone  the  hunted  buffalo — it  is  not  alone 
the  crow  and  the  rook  that  assemble  in  companies  with  one 
another,  and  rule  and  reign  by  laws  clearly  established 
among  themselves.  It  is  not  alone  in  the  colonies  of  the 
uncouth  and  loathsome  rat  that  we  perceive  that  there  is  gov- 
ernment, order,  systems  of  communication,  but  it  is  even  in 
the  ancient  monsters  ; in  their  history,  we  tracp  how  every 
creature  had  its  limits  ; how  all  dwelt  together ; how,  in  peace 
and  harmony,  tribes  of  the  same  kind  inhabited  certain  por- 
tions of  land,  air,  or  water.  In  every  thing  that  lives,  there 
are  these  signs  of  morality — this  justice  to  one  another 
developed. 

There  are  but  two  elements,  Oh,  Man ! which  you  possess, 
which  we  shall  search  for  further,  and  these  are  intellect 
and  spirituality.  Oh,  there  is  another  intellect.  What 
enables  the  swallow  and  the  martin  to  steer  their  way  across 
the  pathless  wastes  and  the  illimitable  fields  of  atmosphere  ? 
No  mariner’s  compass  is  theirs  ; no  north,  no  south,  no  east, 
no  west,  save  what  is  marked  upon  their  little  brain  ; yet 
they  are  enabled,  with  each  changing  season,  to  calculate 
the  approach  of  winter,  to  tell  with  prophetic  power  the 


88 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


exact  length  of  time  they  must  occupy,  and  when  to  depart, 
in  order  to  reach  the  burning  South  in  time  to  escape  the 
severity  of  winter.  Then,  without  chart,  or  pilot,  or  system 
of  navigation,  they  speed  their  unerring  way  througli  unknown 
leagues  of  space,  where  your  mariners,  and  your  navigators 
have,  through  long  years  of  painful  experiment,  failed  to  find 
their  way.  Oh,  is  there  no  intellect  in  the  wondrous  instinct 
of  the  muskrat, — that  instinct  which  teaches  it  to  build  its 
singular  habitation  in  the  centre  of  the  piece  of  water,  pro- 
tecting it  from  the  cruel  and  destructive  propensity  of  its 
great  enemy,  man  ? Is  there  no  intellect  in  the  little  bird 
that  builds  with  such  curious  variety  of  materials  its  nest, 
that  adorns  it  with  such  neatness,  that  selects  the  materials 
with  such  care?  Intellect!  we  cannot  look  upon  one  single 
form  that  God  has  fashioned,  but  there  is  some  fragment  of 
intellect,  from  the  architectural  beaver  to  the  engineer  mole, 
from  the  mathematical  ant,  and  geometrical  bee,  to  the  gen- 
eralissimo buffalo  and  the  navigator  martin,  up  to  those  hunt- 
ing dogs  that  you  train  to  do  your  bidding,  and  claim  that 
you  can  educate  them,  and  therefore  that  instinct  may  be 
improved  into  that  which  you  term  thought  and  reason. 
Memory  they  have ; affection  they  have,  and  hatred  they 
have.  Affection  and  hatred  are  the  results  of  memory. 
Prophecy  and  forecast  they  have;  love  and  sensuality.  What 
remains  but  spirituality  ? 

What  is  spirituality  ? Worship,  worship  of  God,  hope  for 
future  benefits,  gratitude  for  past  blessings,  adoration  for  a 
power  stronger  than  itself,  fear  of  what  may  be  the  result  of 
that  power,  hope  for  what  may  be  its  benefits.  This  is  the 
secret  of  spirituality,  prying  into  the  future,  and  calculation 
of  the  past.  Every  element  goes  to  make  up  that  which  you 
call  spirituality.  We  have  seen  a poor  dog — a strange 
creature,  uncouth  in  form,  not  susceptible  of  any  of  the 
graces  which  you  can  impart,  by  education,  to  your  petted 
favorites — we  have  seen  such  a creature  as  this,  with  loving, 
wistful  eyes,  gazing  up  into  the  face  of  the  master,  going  out 
day  by  day  to  do  his  bidding,  gathering  up  his  sheep,  and 


SPIRIT — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


89 


discriminating  amidst  strange  ones,  and  one  from  another, 
keeping  them  in  flocks,  leading  them  home,  and  then,  his  toils 
completed,  lying  at  the  feet  of  his  protector,  and  lovingly, 
tenderly,  worshipfully  gazing  up  into  his  face,  contented  if  a 
single  kind  word  or  even  kind  glance  rewarded  his  unselfish, 
patient  labor.  We  have  seen  the  dews  of  death  descend  upon 
the  master ; we  have  heard  the  clock  of  destiny  strike,  and 
the  dial-plate  of  time  point  to  the  last  hour  of  his  mortal 
existence  ; then  they  laid  him  in  the  grave,  and  the  artist  who 
celebrated  his  life  with  a pictorial  representation  of  the  little 
green  mound  that  covered  the  last,  long  tenement  of  earth, 
celebrated  as  well  his  chief  mourner,  his  only  one.  By  the 
side  of  the  green  mound  lay  the  rough,  shaggy  companion  of 
his  life.  Day  by  day  strangers  brought  him  the  crust  that 
sustained  that  poor,  wasting  life.  At  last,  man,  worshiping 
man,  spiritual  man,  grateful,  kind,  noble  man,  forgot  him. 
The  snows  of  winter  came  fast  and  thick,  but  when  they 
melted  beneath  the  breath  of  spring,  the  gaunt  form  of  the 
dead  hound  was  found — a martyr  to  his  worship.  On  the 
altar  of  the  dead  master’s  love,  he  had  offered  up  a worship 
as  pure  and  as  strong  as  martyr  ever  offered  to  his  God.  Fol- 
low through,  ye  naturalists,  the  history  and  the  possibilities 
of  all  the  lower  forms  of  animal  life,  and  you  will  find  that 
if  you  treat  them  kindly,  and  educate  them  well,  and  culture 
them  carefully,  and  plant  in  their  rough  and  uncouth  forms 
the  seeds  of  improvement,  there  is  not  a creature  that  may 
not  attain  to  the  topmost  round  of  your  splendid  intellect- 
uality, of  your  noble  mind ; spirituality,  the  worship  of  a being 
higher  than  yourself,  the  fear  of  his  unkindness,  and  the  hope 
of  his  kindness  ; gratitude  for  the  past,  and  hope  for  the 
future. 

Thus,  Oh,  Man ! do  we  find  that,  as  the  Almighty  Author 
has  prepared  the  form,  the  elements  of  matter,  carefully,  until 
at  last  they  were  complete  in  thy  grand  system  of  mechan- 
ism, so  in  all  the  fragments  of  thought  that  are  manifested  in 
the  different  forms  of  animal  life,  he  has  everywhere  pre- 
pared the  elements  of  spirit.  Aye,  of  spirit.  We  know  no 


90 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


line  between  instinct  and  spirit.  Instinct ! wliat  is  it  ? Is  it 
memory  ? Is  it  prophecy  ? Is  it  the  manifestation  of  intel- 
lect ? Is  it  mathematics  or  geometry  ? If  it  be  in  all  these 
things,  then,  do  animals  not  possess  them?  And  if  reason  be 
any  higher,  where  will  you  find  it,  if  not  in  them  ? There  is 
one  difference  that  we  will  not  fail  to  mark ; and  here  it  is 
that  we  find  how  the  destiny  of  man  becomes  triumphant  over 
all  lower  forms,  and  how  he  is  clearly  found  to  grasp  the  reins 
of  sovereignty,  and  chain  them  all  within  his  own  power.  It 
is  this : what  the  animal  form  can  do  in  detail,  man  possesses 
in  full ; what  the  animal  thought  has  in  fragments,  man  pos- 
sesses in  his  totality.  Man  cannot  engineer  with  his  hand, 
as  does  the  mole,  but  man,  by  his  mighty  spirit,  is  enabled  to 
combine  the  little  atoms  of  gunpowder  and  cause  them  to 
break  a way  for  him  into  the  heart  of  the  mightiest  mountain. 
Man,  although  he  cannot  float  on  the  huge  billows,  like  the 
leviathan  of  the  deep,  can  call  forth  from  its  rocky  bed  a 
metallic  structure,  and  sink  farther  and  deeper  than  ever  fish 
or  leviathan  sank.  Man,  if  he  cannot  scale  the  mountain 
side,  like  a soaring  eagle,  can  build  himself  a great  iron  horse, 
that  will  do  it  for  him,  flying  over  the  mountain  top  with 
greater  speed  than  ever  eagle’s  mighty  pinions  bore  him. 
Thus  can  man  knit  up  all  the  fragments  of  thought  that  God 
has  prepared,  and  stand  a demi-god,  with  all  the  forms  of 
earth  committed  to  his  vice-regal  charge. 

This  is  spirit ; this  is  where  it  came  from.  Again  and 
again  we  have  told  the  same  story,  and  must  tell  it,  until 
you  know,  and  estimate  yourselves  for  what  you  are.  Thou 
art  indeed  the  flower  of  earthly  existence.  Where  will  you 
limit  its  boundless  range  ? No  dungeons  can  hem  it  in. 
Fetter  down  the  body  with  chains,  and  bars,  and  racks,  and 
the  free  spirit  will  soar  away  to  the  stars.  Place  it  in  the 
Carolina  rice  field,  with  the  toiling  slave,  and  the  poor  and 
helpless  captive  shall  be  far  away,  in  the  dear  cabin  of  home, 
rejoicing  in  the  precious  presence  of  father  and  mother,  and 
sporting  once  more  by  the  murmuring  brook-side,  with  the 
playmatos  of  youth.  You  cannot  burn  it;  as  the  leaping 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


91 


flame  is  consuming  the  form  of  the  martyr,  his  spirit  shall  be 
chanting  hallelujahs  to  his  God.  You  cannot  drown  it ; you 
may  sink  it  deeper  than  ever  plummet  sounded,  and  the 
soaring  spirit  shall  stand  beside  the  navigator,  and  whilst 
they  are  searching  for  the  lifeless  remains  of  the  broken 
tenement  of  clay,  inspiring  him  to  make  fresh  charts,  and 
maps,  and  new  systems  of  navigation.  You  may  take  him 
up  to  the  block  and  the  axe ; you  may  drag  him  to  the  scaf- 
fold, and  strangle  him  on  the  gallows ; but  the  free  spirit 
shall  mock  you  with  its  unquenchable  life  — life  eternal. 
You  may  force  it  to  its  knees,  and  bid  it  deny  the  great 
truths  of  science ; you  may  compel  it  to  lie,  in  the  face  of 
rolling  worlds ; you  may  wring  from  it  a denial  of  that  glo- 
rious law  of  gravitation,  binding  and  harmonizing  the  solar 
system,  which  came  down  in  the  full  tide  of  inspiration  to 
the  brain  of  a Galileo ; but  he  shall  spring  up  from  the  atti- 
tude of  the  crouching  slave,  and  shout,  with  the  full  force  of 
his  soaring  spirit,  “ And  still  it  moves ! ” This  is  spirit 
triumphant  over  all  fetters,  breaking  through  all  bounds, 
mighty  as  the  winds,  stronger  than  death,  endless  as  eternity, 
and  powerful  as  that  God  from  whence  it  came.  Can  you 
limit  it?  Oh!  trace  back  the  history  of  the  ages,  and  there 
do  you  find  that  one  step  after  another  of  knowledge  has 
been  but  the  threshold  of  some  great  door  into  which  the 
spirit  has  entered,  until  at  last  every  element  has  yielded  up 
its  power,  and  man  is  lord  of  the  lightning,  and  lord  of  the 
thunder ; he  is  enabled  to  mimic  it,  and  to  fashion  it  out  of  a 
little  copper  and  zinc.  He  is  king  of  the  water  ; he  calls  it 
up  like  his  obedient  slave,  and  harnesses  it  to  the  car,  and 
makes  it  bear  him  with  lightning  speed  from  pole  to  pole. 
He  is  lord  of  earth,  and  all  forms  of  matter  are  yielding  up 
the  secret  of  their  composition  and  decomposition  to  the 
prying  eye  of  the  chemist.  Talk  of  the  arts  and  sciences. 
What  are  these  ? Nothing  but  the  thoughts  of  God  ; nothing 
but  the  ideas  burning  and  blazing  in  the  great  centre  of  mind 
that  he  has  planted  in  the  spirit  of  man,  here  cumbered  with 
the  soil  of  matter,  and  entombed  in  earth,  but  to  blossom  into 


92 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


spirit  life,  and  to  possess,  one  after  another,  as  his  form  shall 
be  able  to  manifest  them,  more  and  more  of  the  attributes  of 
the  divine  nature.  Aye,  spirit  we  take  to  be  the  divine  spark, 
sown  in  the  soil  of  matter.  It  is  sown  as  are  the  seeds  and 
roots  by  which  your  earth  is  clothed  with  the  fair  and  beautiful 
flora,  and  all  vegetable  forms.  As  soon  as  your  spirit  becomes 
perfected  in  the  darkness  of  earth ; as  soon  as  it  has  gone 
through  the  rudimental,  embryonic  stages  of  formation, 
lo ! it  breaks  through  the  crust  of  earth,  and  blossoms  in 
the  realm  of  a better  and  higher  land  — blossoms  in  the 
hereafter.  But  mark,  the  blossom  does  not  leave  the  root. 
The  flower,  the  fruit,  the  seed,  the  root,  the  reproduction  of 
ten  thousand  seeds,  are  all  connected  with  the  earthly  root. 
Forever,  forever,  this  earth  shall  keep  its  place  ; one  genera- 
tion passeth  away,  another  generation  cometh,  but  the  earth 
remaineth  forever.  And  so  does  the  root  from  which  the 
spirit  sprung,  remain  connected  forever  with  the  rudimental 
plane  where  first  it  commenced  its  life.  You  may  talk  of  the 
spirit  being  gone,  the  spirit  being  fled,  or  of  spirit  sleeping 
in  the  ground.  First,  ye  have  to  chain  the  spirit ; first,  ye 
have  to  detain  it  in  the  ground ; and  next,  ye  have  to  show 
that  there  is  any  point  in  God’s  creation,  however  low,  that 
is  not  attached,  by  endless  links  of  harmony,  to  the  heart  of 
the  Creator  himself.  Take  a note  of  music,  the  sound  of  a 
human  voice  as  it  peals  through  the  arches  of  space.  You 
say  it  is  lost.  Lost ! it  is  never  lost.  Now  it  beats  upon 
your  atmosphere  ; the  waves  of  air  above  it  are  stirred,  away, 
away ; higher,  higher,  and  yet  higher ; and  every  pulsation 
and  vibration  of  the  atmosphere  conveys  the  same  movement 
through  endless  realms  of  space ; it  ascends  to  the  stars ; it 
forms  a part  of  the  atmosphere ; it  encloses  other  worlds, 
and  still  that  vibration  is  felt  forever,  forever.  It  travels 
onwards  ; it  may  sublimate  itself  to  the  finest  possible  point ; 
it  may  be,  to  you,  lost  in  eternity ; but  in  eternity,  the  sound 
of  that  voice  will  be  found  vibrating  forever.  And  so  with 
every  atom  ; its  identity  is  known,  its  destiny  marked  ; it  ag- 
gregates itself  to  its  fellow  atom ; it  is  elaborated  in  flower, 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


93 


or  tree,  or  the  form  of  man ; but  whatever  it  is,  it  holds  its 
place  in  relation  to  other  atoms  ; and  these  again  are  grasped 
by  the  eternal  chains  of  harmony,  that  are  suspended  in 
space  from  ten  thousand  rushing  worlds. 

A few  words  concerning  the  destiny  of  spirit.  You  all 
believe  that  it  lives  forever.  There  are  very  few  among  you 
who  can  limit  your  narrow  and  finite  gaze  to  the  mere  realm 
of  matter.  There  is  something  so  superb  in  the  form  of  the 
living  man ; there  is  something  so  utterly  waste  and  void  in 
the  form  of  the  dead ; there  is  such  a wondrous  change, 
without  the  loss  of  a single  particle  that  you  can  weigh,  that 
you  can  grasp  or  feel ; a change  so  mighty  — a monarch  so 
great,  overgrown  — a shipbuilder,  with  all  his  faculty  to  con- 
struct great  leviathans,  himself  wrecked,  forever  wrecked  — 
& mother,  no  more  a mother  — a kind,  pious  father,  toiling  and 
slaving  for  the  beings  dependent  upon  him,  lying  cold,  stony, 
helpless,  motionless,  while  all  are  shrieking  around  ; — there 
is  something  so  powerful,  so  tremendous,  in  the  awful  view  of 
the  form  from  which  the  spirit  has  passed,  that  man  has 
marked  terror  upon  it  — terror,/ because  he  is  in  ignorance  of 
what  change  means.  Every  creature  acknowledges  that  it  is 
the  absence  of  the  spirit.  The  spirit,  then,  was  the  organ- 
ism ; the  spirit  was  the  power ; the  spirit  was  the  spring,  the 
reason,  and  the  guide  of  the  man.  We  have  heard  the  ma- 
terialist declare  that  man  was  but  a machine,  which  only 
subsisted  so  long  as  you  placed  the  fire,  the  wood,  the  stone, 
the  water,  and  the  wheels  in  proximity  one  with  another ; 
destroy  the  machine,  says  the  materialist,  and  you  destroy 
the  power.  Oh,  Materialist ! you  do  not  touch  it.  The 
machine  is  but  the  expression  of  the  power ; the  machine  is 
but  the  outward  effect  of  the  power,  while  the  power  is  inde- 
structible. The  fire  will  blaze,  and  the  heat  will  circle 
around  you  ; you  cannot  put  it  out  of  existence,  though  you 
break  up  ten  thousand  machines.  The  elements  of  being  are 
there  forever.  The  form  is  only  the  vehicle  for  their  expres- 
sion ; the  real  power  is  within.  And  so  with  the  form  of 
humanity ; this  is  not  the  power,  this  is  the  outward  expres- 


94 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


sion.  You  must  therefore  concede  that,  with  all  your  power, 
you  wonderful  beings ; quick,  trading  men  of  commerce ; 
you  men  of  change  and  traffic ; you  rulers,  governors,  legis- 
lators, princes  of  trade,  and  princes  of  men  — with  all  your 
wonderful  power  to  gauge  the  heavens,  and  measure  the 
stars,  and  gather  up  the  secrets  of  nature,  and  drag  into 
light,  one  after  another,  the  mysteries  of  the  alembic,  by 
which  nature’s  occult  processes  are  effected,  are  nothing  more 
than  spirits  entombed  for  a brief  period  in  a form  of  clay  — 
a form  given  you  as  a mode  — a form  designed  for  merely 
utilitarian  purposes,  to  enable  the  spirit  to  grow  — a form 
which  serves  the  same  purpose  to  the  grain  of  wheat  and  the 
little  acorn,  that  it  serves  unto  you.  As  the  earth  is  neces- 
sary for  their  existence,  so  is  the  clay  necessary  for  the 
elaboration  of  your  spirit ; the  grain  of  wheat,  and  the 
acorn,  and  the  root,  exist  before  the  earth  comes  in  contact 
with  them.  The  oak  may  never  spring  forth  from  the  acorn 
until  the  acorn  has  sustained  it  with  soil ; but  the  acorn 
exists,  and  is  as  definite  as  though  the  earth  never  had  been. 
And  so  of  the  grain  of  wheat ; the  waving  field  of  corn  may 
never  testify  to  the  power  of  prolific  nature  to  unfold  from  a 
single  grain,  the  vast  field  ; but  that  grain,  with  all  its  powers 
and  all  its  possibilities,  exists,  whether  there  be  an  earth  to  plant 
it  in,  or  not.  And  so  of  your  spirit ; it  has  its  origin,  it  has 
its  eternity  behind,  it  has  its  Divine  Author,  from  whom  it 
becomes  separate  in  the  forms  of  matter  so  fit  for  its  recep- 
tion ; but  when  you  claim  that  earth  gave  it  birth,  when  you 
claim  that  matter  was  its  author,  that  the  atoms  and  grains 
were  its  parent,  you  claim  that  the  earth  found  the  acorn,  and 
created  the  grain  of  corn.  For  your  destiny,  then,  ask  only 
what  your  spirit  has  become,  and  what  it  is  fit  for ; ask  what 
it  is  now,  builder,  operative,  merchant,  sinner,  saint  — what- 
soever the  capacities  be  that  your  God  has  permitted  you  to 
unfold  in  the  mold  of  matter,  such  will  be  your  state  in  the 
hereafter,  in  the  state  to  which  you  must  go.  You  cannot, 
if  you  would,  annihilate  yourselves.  Somewhere  you  must 
live  ; somewhero  that  quenchless  spark  must  find  its  location  ; 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


95 


somewhere  yon  must  light  up  the  caverns  of  a world  lighted 
by  spirit ; for  there  is  no  light  until  spirit  gleams  through  the 
darkness  of  matter. 

It  only  remains  for  us  to  advert  to  one  great  teaching  of 
Spiritualism ; and  in  this  we  find  the  real  destiny  of  form,  of 
matter  and  of  man.  This  is  progression.  Wherever  we 
turn,  we  find  that  matter  has  been  struggling  to  develop 
organic  life  ; wherever  we  consider  organic  life,  we  find  that 
nature  has  been  struggling  to  develop  man.  The  question 
will  arise,  may  there  not  be  some  higher  form  than  man  ? 
May  not  something  grander  and  more  perfect  than  man,  pos- 
sess the  earth — beings,  of  which  man  is  but  the  rudiment  ? 
Aye,  this  might  be  so,  if  we  did  not  find  in  spirit  the  next 
link  in  the  order  of  nature.  There  is  no  link  wanting. 
Everywhere  that  we  look,  we  find  order  ; each  species  taking 
its  place  next  to  the  species  higher  than  itself.  Tracing  cre- 
ation downward,  we  find  no  link  is  wanting ; if  we  trace  it 
upward,  we  may  look  for  the  same  eternal  chain  of  harmony. 
Once  more  we  remind  you,  that  every  round  of  the  angel 
ladder  must  be  filled — filled  with  living,  breathing  beings. 
What  is  the  next  link  to  man,  or  do  we  wait  for  another  ? 
What  is  that  that  stands  beside  the  decaying  corpse  with  the 
very  first  moment  of  the  extinction  of  life  ? One  instant  ye 
live — live  a clay  man ; live  a moral  being — the  next  instant 
that  form,  and  its  uses,  are  ended.  What  stands  beside  it  ? 
For  one  moment  at  least,  Oh,  ye  religionists,  who  claim  that 
spirits  cannot  subsist  in  this  earthly  atmosphere — for  one 
moment,  at  least,  the  spirit  must  be  in  the  chamber  of  death. 
The  spirit  must  exist,  if  it  exist  out  of  the  form  and  reality, 
it  must  live  by  the  side  of  the  tenement  from  which  it  has 
escaped.  There  is  the  next  link,  and  this  it  is  that  assures 
us  that  man  is  the  last  of  form — that  man  is  the  object  and 
purpose  of  this  creation,  and  that  with  his  being,  all  the  end 
and  aim  of  matter  and  its  various  combinations  are  complete  ; 
that  it  is  to  give  birth  to  spirit,  that  all  the  worlds  of  matter, 
all  the  aggregations  of  atoms  which  you  see  dancing  and 
whirling  around  you,  are  but  tending  to  the  same  point, 


96 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY 


when  the  divine  individuality  of  God  reproduces  itself  in 
the  ten  thousand  million  individualities  of  God’s  creatures. 
This  being  the  object  of  creation,  trace  up  your  destiny,  trace 
it  up  through  the  eternal  round  of  progress ; trace  it  up  to 
the  better  world. 

Oh,  man  of  crime,  and  man  of  sorrow ! it  is  a better 
world  ; to  the  criminal  it  is  better,  because  by  the  very  suf- 
fering which  eats  into  his  conscious  spirit,  by  the  very  tor- 
ment which  he  carries  within  him  ; as  sure  as  his  kingdom  of 
heaven  might  have  been  there,  he  becomes  wise ; he  drinks 
the  lessons  of  suffering  ; he  receives  the  stripes  of  adversity; 
every  blow  that  he  takes,  is  the  hammer  that  wields  the  iron 
into  shape,  and  purifies  the  refined  gold.  It  is  a better 
world  for  the  sorrowing.  There  is  no  hunger  there ; no 
thirst ; no  cold  ; no  struggle  for  bread.  All  the  selfish  wants 
of  the  body  are  gone.  All  the  sensual  appetites  that  needed 
to  be  fed,  that  compelled  toil,  and  conflict,  and  cramped  its 
existence  by  the  hard  grasp  of  labor,  and  crime,  are  ended. 
All  is  over  now.  Here  the  happy  spirit  looks  out  with 
radiant,  rejoicing  eyes — poor  eyes  that  have  wept  torrents 
of  tears — heaving  bosom  that  has  spent  itself  in  sighs.  All 
is  over  now.  The  glorious  clairvoyance  of  unbounded  space, 
the  great  mysteries  of  nature,  and  all  the  arcana  of  creation, 
are  laid  open  to  the  view  of  the  spirit.  That  vision  which 
has  hitherto  been  hedged  in  by  mortal  eyes  is  now  unclouded. 
Sciences,  the  fragments  of  which  ;were  gained  by  long  toil 
on  earth,  now  become  the  elaborated  and  complete  wisdom 
of  the  spirit.  Intellect,  which  crowned  you  here  like  a 
wreath,  blossoms  in  spirit  land  ; for  the  cause  and  the  effect 
are  all  before  you.  But  it  is  a better  world  for  the  saint 
and  the  sufferer.  The  sharp  stones  and  thorns  which  have 
pierced  their  bleeding  feet  as  they  trod  over  the  rough  way 
of  life ; the  sorrows  of  those  who  clung  to  their  garments, 
when  the  hands  were  powerless  to  alleviate — all  this  is  over 
now.  There  is  no  distance  between  God’s  saints  and  his 
suffering  children;  but  they  arc  now  ministering  spirits, 
standing  on  the  pinnacle  of  wisdom,  where  they  read  the 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


97 


past,  present,  and  future ; where  they  see  the  benefits  of 
adversity,  and  comprehend  its  necessity ; where  they  can 
understand  how  the  wise  Father  schools  and  disciplines  his 
children  through  these  very  means.  It  is  not  a sorrowing 
life  for  them  to  tread  side  by  side  with  you,  the  stony  paths 
of  earth,  helping  their  fellow  creatures  to  rise.  There  are 
some  who  tell  you  of  a selfish  heaven,  where  the  mother 
shall  quit  her  helpless  orphans ; where  the  father  shall  no 
more  be  struck  with  grief  and  anguish,  by  the  sight  of  the 
prodigal  son  ; where  the  kind  and  the  generous  shall  no  more 
have  drops  of  blood  wrung  from  their  sympathetic  hearts, 
by  the  sight  of  woe  which  they  cannot  relieve.  There  is  no 
such  heaven  for  the  spirit  of  man.  Heaven  is  the  heaven  of 
good ; heaven  is  the  place  where  the  strong  hand,  now 
unbound  from  the  mask  of  clay,  is  bold  to  stretch  itself  out 
to  help  the  fallen  and  raise  the  suffering.  It  is  no  sorrow 
for  them  to  gaze  into  the  faces  of  the  pilgrims  who  are  tread- 
ing the  same  path  they  trod ; for  this  is  a school,  the  wis- 
dom, the  uses,  and  purposes  of  which  they  comprehend. 
There  is  no  sorrow  there.  The  destiny  of  the  spirit  is 
eternal  progress.  Stand  upon  the  highest  point  to  which 
your  imagination  can  climb,  amid  all  the  glories  of  sunlit 
skies,  and  rainbow  arches,  pointing  up  to  higher  and  yet 
higher  worlds  of  light  and  splendor;  and  doth  not  thy 
spirit  aspire  to  it  all  ? You  can  aspire  to  nothing  of  which 
you  have  not  conceived,  and  where  did  you  find  it  except 
in  imagination  ? The  materialist,  who  talks  of  annihilation, 
says  it  is  the  mere  figment  of  your  brain,  the  aspira- 
tion of  your  thought,  stretching  away  up  into  the  imaginary 
heavens.  But  for  every  aspiration  there  is  a reality ; every 
wish  is  but  a prophecy  of  what  shall  be,  and  the  highest 
aspiration  of  which  thou  canst  conceive  will  soon  be  realized 
and  passed  in  the  ages  of  eternal  progression. 

Man,  that  is  what  thy  spirit  is ; take  heed  of  its  destiny, 
observe  its  origin ; know  that  knowledge  is  power ; as  thou 
dost  know  thyself,  so  wilt  thou  die  as  the  wise  and  virtuous 
Socrates  died.  As  thy  spirit  is  immortal,  as  it  is  destined 
7 


98 


SPIRIT  — ITS  ORIGIN  AND  DESTINY. 


to  tread  the  everlasting  courts  of  all  eternity,  so  it  is  worthy 
of  all  the  culture  thou  canst  give  it  here. 

We  may  not  press  further  upon  your  attention  the  various 
gates  of  possibility  that  here  unfold  to  the  spirit  whilst 
encased  in  form.  We  may  not  further  tax  your  patience 
this  night.  What  we  have  presented  to  you  as  the  view 
of  the  origin  and  destiny  of  the  soul,  is  not  new  to  most  of 
you.  The  records  of  witnesses  enable  us,  step  by  step,  to 
demonstrate  the  progress  of  the  spirit,  from  matter  up  to  the 
point  where  it  stands,  freed  by  the  death  angel,  in  the  better 
world.  We  have  abundant  evidence  in  the  various  sciences 
and  discoveries  of  modern  times  ; that  you  may  trace  up  its 
future  destiny,  that  you  may  know  all  its  radiant  worlds, 
comprehend  the  glorious  brilliancy  of  its  dazzling  courts  and 
sunlit  skies,  the  revelations  of  the  spirit  circle  proclaim. 
When  next  we  address  you,  our  thought  will  speak  of  a 
solemn  and  terrible  word — Death  ; but  our  thought  will  only 
be  solemn  or  terrible  in  the  word.  Our  thought  shall  soar 
above  man’s  interpretation,  to  give  the  interpretation  of  God 
and  nature.  It  is  well  that  you  should  know  by  what  hands 
your  spirit  is  freed  from  this  mortal  coil ; it  is  well  that  you 
should  know  the  meaning  of  that  which  you  term  death ; it 
is  well  that  you  should  know,  in  connection  with  it,  what  is 
meant  by  sin.  This  will  be  the  subject  of  our  next  address 
in  this  place. 

[Miss  Hardinge  then  stated,  that  instead  of  replying  to 
questions  that  evening,  as  had  been  proposed,  she  would  call 
the  attention  of  the  audience  to  a notice  of  a Kansas  relief 
concert,  which  she  read,  following  it  with  a few  remarks 
commendatory  of  the  enterprise.] 


LECTURE  FIFTH. 


SIN  AND  E E _A_  T H . 


Delivered  at  Kingsbury  Gall,  Sunday  Morning,  Nov.  4,  1860. 


[Miss  IIardinge  appeared  at  the  usual  hour,  a quarter  before  eleven  o’clock,  and  proceeded :] 
“ The  wages  of  sin  is  death.” 

When  we  look  over  the  whole  mass  of  prose  and  poetry, 
literature,  termed,  for  distinction’s  sake4  sacred  and  profane, 
nowhere  do  we  find  embodied  in  human  phrase,  an  expla- 
nation of  those  two  tremendous  problems  that  vex  the 
world — sin  and  death — except  in  these  remarkable  words. 
Death,  in  this  great  thinking,  analytical  age — death,  in  this 
age  when  all  the  elements  are  giving  up  their  mysteries  to 
the  conquering  hand  of  wisdom — death,  is  the  last  enemy  to 
be  vanquished.  Death  is  the  great  problem,  the  mighty  veil, 
the  huge  shadow  of  terror,  which  has  hung  over  the  earth ; 
which,  up  to  this  day,  appears  to  have  achieved  conquest  and 
wielded  dominion  over  humanity,  which  no  science,  no  learn- 
ing, can  either  comprehend  or  diminish.  If  ye  will  consider  the 
abhorrence  with  which  the  world  views  sin,  ye  will  find  that 
side  by  side  with  this  awful  problem,  death,  sin  takes  rank. 
There  is  not  one  of  ye  this  day  that  is  exempt  from  the  hide- 
ous influence  of  this  great  triumphant  conqueror,  death.  There 
has  never  been  a time  when  all  that  is  bright,  and  beautiful, 
and  hopeful,  and  glad,  has  not  met  the  cold,  dark  shadow  of 
death.  All  your  philosophy  fails,  all  your  stoicism  is  set  at 
naught,  when  the  beautiful  and  the  loved  lie  before  you  in 
the  marble  stillness,  the  hideous,  icy  chains  of  death.  When 


100 


SIN  AND  DEATH 


your  little  child  lies  dead  before  you,  farewell  philosophy. 
You  may  bid  the  aspiring  young  man  go  forth  to  foreign 
lands,  satisfied  that  your  dim  eyes  will  never  more  look 
upon  him ; you  may  part  with  that  fair  young  bride,  and  see 
her  embark  for  the  unknown  shore  of  some  distant  land,  feel- 
ing that  you  will  never  more  clasp  that  fond,  warm  heart  to 
your  bosom  ; — you  can  bear  all  this,  but  to  see  the  young,  and 
strong,  and  beautiful,  stricken  down  before  you — no  voice — no 
breath — no  smile  of  tenderness  and  hope — to  speak  to  that 
being  whom  you  ever  loved  and  tended,  and  receive  no 
answer — to  shriek  their  names  to  the  hills  until  every  valley 
echoes  the  torturing  cry,  and  yet  hear  only  the  mocking 
response  of  your  own  voice — this  is  death.  Dead ! dead ! 
Oh  ! who  has  ever  echoed  that  dreadful  word,  and  yet  cried, 
“ My  God,  thy  will,  not  mine,  be  done  ?”  When  you  see  the 
bursting  heart,  the  eye  drowned  in  tears,  the  bosom  heaving 
with  sighs,  and  the  vpice  choked  with  grief,  the  words  of 
meekness  and  resignation  fall  powerless  from  your  lips.  Yes, 
death  and  sin  are  equally  terrible.  You  all  hate  them.  Sin 
is  ever  hateful.  It  matters  not  where  it  is,  nor  how  it  is 
done,  there  are  but  two  classes  of  human  beings  in  whom  you 
tolerate  it : either  the  strong,  who  fight  their  way  with  brute 
force  into  your  toleration,  or  the  rich,  who  can  buy  impunity 
from  your  judgment.  As  to  every  other  class,  sin  appears  so 
hateful  to  you,  that  you  strangle  it  on  the  gallows,  immure 
it  in  dungeons,  scourge  it,  tread  it  beneath  your  feet.  You 
push  the  Magdalene  into  the  gutter ; you  shut  your  doors  to 
the  plunderer.  You  cannot  stop  to  pause  upon  it ; it  is 
enough  that  they  broke  up,  with  their  discord,  the  settled 
harmony  of  nature  or  society.  Ye  stone  them,  if  not  with 
the  cruel  law  of  Moses,  at  least  ye  stone  them  with  a moral 
persecution  of  hard,  stony  hearts.  This  is  the  light  in  which 
death  and  sin  arc  regarded.  Pass  over  the  different  epochs 
in  the  world’s  history  and  you  will  find  that  they  everywhere 
stand  the  same  mysterious,  unconquerable  objects  of  human 
hate.  To  live  is  the  great  good  ; to  die  is  the  last  great  ill 
that  can  befall  humanity.  How  to  stave  off  death,  how  to 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


101 


preserve  life,  is  the  great  end  and  aim  of  human  existence. 
How  to  crush  out  sin,  how  to  drive  it  from  your  presence,  is 
the  next  great  aim. 

Is  it  not  time  that  these  two  problems  should  be  solved  ? 
You  may  talk  of  living  well ; you  never  will  succeed — you 
never  can  hope  to  conquer  any  of  the  inharmonies  that  exist 
in  art,  in  science,  in  social  relations,  or  in  political  institu- 
tions, until  you  know  of  the  inharmonies.  We  pronounce 
these  to  be  sin  and  death.  You  never  will  know  how  to  un- 
derstand and  master  sin  until  you  know  what  death  is.  Ye 
never  can  make  true  men  and  women  until  ye  know  what  sin  is. 
Neither  do  we  find  in  any  of  the  systems  of  the  transcendental- 
ists  or  physiologists,  men  of  science,  or  men  of  mind,  who  ap- 
peared before  the  sentence  which  we  have  taken  was  written — 
not  in  the  writings  or  thoughts  of  any  human  being  do  we  find 
an  attempt  to  couple  these  two  problems  together,  and  make 
the  one  solve  the  other.  What  has  death  to  do  with  sin  ? is 
the  cry.  Who  among  ye  can  say  what  death  is,  or  what  sin 
is  ? We  believe  that  one  will  solve  the  other.  We  find  that 
in  sin  is  the  cause  of  suffering ; that  suffering  is  at  the  root 
of  evil  and  death.  We  know  of  no  condition  which  can  be 
denominated  suffering  which  does  not  proceed  from  sin.  We 
know  of  no  sorrow  but  what  is  curable  or  susceptible  of  relief, 
save  that  which  you  term  death.  So  we  consider  the  solution 
of  these  two  problems  will  annihilate  what  you  term  suffer- 
ing, and  the  solution  will  be  found  by  regarding  each  in  con- 
nection with  the  other. 

Here  we  shall  then  stop,  and  rest  upon  our  proposition : 
that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal 
life.  In  order  to  solve  this  problem,  we  must  proceed  to 
analyze  these  two  propositions ; to  consider  fairly  all  the 
reasons  we  are  possessed  of — all  the  evidence  which  human 
institutions  can  offer,  as  to  what  is  sin.  We  shall  find  that 
death  will  come  under  the  category  of  the  same  intelligence. 
We  start  with  this  proposition  : sin,  imperfection  — not  lim- 
ited to  the  simple  inference,  firmly  entering  into  every  form 
of  human  existence  — imperfection  is  the  result  of  perfection. 


102 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


Imperfection,  or  the  finite,  is  the  child  of  perfection  and  the 
infinite.  And  thus  do  we  propose  to  resolve  them.  We  find 
that  there  is  a standard  existing  in  man  which  clearly  maps 
out  the  existence  of  all  lower  forms  beneath  man.  It  has 
frequently  been  asserted  that  man  is  the  microcosm  of  all 
things ; and  this  assertion  is  perfectly  true.  We  shall  take 
the  life  of  man,  therefore,  of  all  things  in  which  sin  forms  a 
necessary  part.  Thus  we  perceive  that  in  the  existence  of 
man  there  is  a period  of  rudimental  growth,  termed  infancy ; 
a period  of  strength  and  vigor,  a culmination  of  every  indi- 
vidual’s existence,  termed  manhood  ; and  from  this  period 
there  is  a gradual  decadence  to  the  state  termed  extreme  old 
age,  with  its  sequence  of  death.  Whether  we  consider  the 
systems  of  worlds  around  this  globe,  or  the  constitution  of 
things  in  which  man  lives,  we  find  that  this  life  of  man  repre- 
sents the  course  of  existence  in  all  things.  We  observe  in 
the  ten  thousand  eyes  of  God,  sparkling  in  the  midnight  sky, 
that  we  may  trace  up  the  infancy  of  worlds,  may  follow  them 
through  their  vigor  and  manhood,  and  their  gradual  transi- 
tion into  old  age,  which  elaborates  them  into  other  states  and 
forms.  We  have  remarked,  again  and  again,  the  hand  of 
God,  visible  in  the  magnificent  spectacle  presented  by  that 
unconsolidated  vapor,  drifting  through  the  heavens,  which 
we  term  a comet.  Here  we  perceive  the  elements  of  nature 
gradually  aggregating  themselves  together  in  the  infancy  of 
a new  world.  We  trace  up  the  babyhood  of  this  wonderful 
existence,  and  we  find  it  a nebulous  star.  We  then  point  to 
it  as  to  a Mercury  or  Venus,  the  youngest-born  of  the  Sun. 
We  then  find  it  in  the  condition  of  your  earth,  a consolidated 
world,  with  all  its ^ lives  and  existences  of  joy  and  sorrow. 
From  this  condition  we  trace  it  to  that  larger  growth  — that 
vigor  and  planetary  manhood  which  we  find  in  those  great 
globes  rolling  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  solar  system  — worlds 
surrounded  with  great  bolts.  Passing  on,  we  find  it  in  old 
age,  when  these  belts  burst  asunder,  and  roll  in  satelites 
around  the  parent  mass.  We  descend  to  the  earth,  and  find 
that  this  same  system  of  progress  and  succession  permeates 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


103 


the  entire  circle  of  visible  forms.  We  trace  the  period  of 
the  infancy  of  the  rocks,  as  they  take  form,  deposited  by  the 
first  ancient,  boiling  seas.  Lower  and  lower  the  atoms  set- 
tle and  aggregate  themselves,  until  they  form  a rock.  By 
the  upheaval  of  internal  fires,  they  are  sent,  in  vast  extent, 
to  the  surface,  in  the  form  of  continents  and  islands.  That 
is  the  period  of  the  manhood  and  vigor  of  the  ancient  rock. 
By  a gradual  process  of  decadence,  under  the  influence  of 
atmosphere  and  time,  we  find  the  rock  slowly  dying,  until  at 
last  it  changes  utterly,  and  gives  birth  to  new  strata,  and  new 
combinations.  The  granite  of  the  primeval  epoch  is  dead  in 
the  limestone  and  chalk  of  after  ages,  and  the  upraised  suc- 
ceeding strata  of  rock.  Each  one  perishes,  having  had  the 
same  experience  of  aggregation  from  the  forms  of  its  atoms, 
— absolute  life  in  one  definite  form,  and  old  age,  and  death, 
and  reposition,  in  another  form. 

The  same  system  may  be  traced  in  the  vegetable  world. 
Every  blade  of  grass  springs  from  the  infancy  of  the  soil,  and 
every  flower  shoots  forth  from  the  rudimental  state.  As 
the  root  dies  in  the  earth,  we  perceive  the  new  life,  with  its 
tender  infantile  green, — its  little  stem,  and  its  ascending 
shoot,  frail  and  delicate,  but  rising,  until  it  elaborates  itself 
into  the  fully-formed  flower  or  the  tree  — the  perfect  con- 
dition of  vegetable  life  — the  time  of  its  beauty,  vigor  and 
manhood.  Then  comes  the  judgment  day,  looming  up  before 
the  flower,  with  its  inevitable  trump  of  doom,  and  the  flower, 
the  tree,  and  the  grass  must  die.  They  sink  down  into  the 
night  of  old  age,  and  perish.  Thus  it  is  with  humanity,  con- 
sidered by  multitudes,  or  as  individuals.  So  it  is  with  your 
institutions,  your  villages,  your  cities,  your  nations,  the  works 
of  your  hands.  They  all  have  their  rudimental  existence. 
You  may  enter  one  of  your  great  factories,  and  a history  of 
life  and  death  shall  be  observed  in  every  one  of  its  chambers. 
Ascend  to  the  topmost,  and  there  you  see  the  produce  of  the 
field,  the  fair  cotton.  You  may  trace  its  life  from  the  root, 
elaborating  itself  into  the  flower,  and  dying  beneath  the  hand 
of  the  cotton  picker.  And  now  it  appears  in  a new  life  — 


104 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


in  the  form  of  the  bale  as  you  find  it  there.  Descend  to  the 
next  chamber,  and  you  will  find  the  bale  dead.  It  was  in  its 
infantile  state  when  gathered.  It  was  in  its  manhood  when 
you  saw  it  in  the  bale.  Now  it  is  in  a new  form  — a long,  con- 
tinuous stream,  like  a fair,  white  rope,  pouring  through  great 
cylinders  conveying  it  down  to  a lower  chamber.  Follow  it 
on  through  the  life  of  the  rope.  You  descend  and  find  it 
condensed  into  a little  finer  form.  It  is  now  the  spirit  of  the 
rope.  The  rope  is  dead,  and  unperceived,  it  is  a mere  thread. 
Descend  to  the  next  chamber,  and  you  find  that  the  thread  is 
dead.  Its  life  has  been  wrought  into  a closely-woven  mass, 
in  the  fashion  of  a fabric.  Descend  to  the  next  chamber,  and 
you  find  this  fabric  dead.  It  has  been  changed  into  a more 
delicate  and  purified  form  of  existence. 

Descend  to  the  lowest  basement,  and  there  you  shall  find 
the  wheel  which  moves  the  whole  machinery  — the  life  of  the 
whole  — and  there  you  will  find  the  laughing  waters, — the 
life  of  the  wheel.  A hundred  years  hence,  the  wheel  will 
die,  although  its  term  of  life  may  be  longer  than  that  of  the 
cotton.  In  its  different  transition  stages,  it  runs  through  the 
same  process  of  existence.  The  engineer,  as  he  gathered 
together  the  materials  to  construct  the  machine,  was  the  god 
of  the  engine.  He  built  it  piece  by  piece,  limb  by  limb,  joint 
after  joint,  until  he  brought  it  up  from  the  infantile  state  to 
the  manhood  of  the  machine.  Now  it  is  still,  cold,  lifeless, 
the  gray  moss  of  decay  is  its  monumental  garb ; and  the 
hours  of  deathly  stillness  that  surround  the  old  worn  out 
wheel,  is  its  judgment  day. 

So  it  is  with  the  building  you  have  constructed  and 
fashioned.  Long  ago,  when  time  was  young,  the  particles 
of  matter  of  which  it  is  composed  were  held  as  dancing 
motes  in  the  summer  sunbeam,  until  the  gentle  influence  of 
light  absorbed  and  bound  them  into  the  mighty  oak.  Now 
they  arc  gathered  together,  and  you  behold  them  in  the 
strength  and  pride  of  manhood.  A few  years  hence  it  will 
be  crumbling  until  it  is  dead  — dead  as  in  the  night  of  old  age, 
when  the  clock  of  time  shall  strike  its  requiem.  It  will  die 


/ 


SIN  AND  DEATH.  105 

and  lie  long  a solemn  wreck,  like  ruined  Palmyra  and 
perished  Babylon,  and  all  the  glorious  cities  of  the  East, 
whose  banners  of  splendor  and  power  once  waved  over 
mighty  and  conquered  Africa.  You  can  trace  those  cities 
from  the  hut  of  the  woodman  and  the  cabin  of  the  pioneer, 
through  hamlet,  and  village,  and  town,  and  city,  up  to  the 
mighty  nation,  rising  in  pride  and  power,  stretching  out  its 
broad  arms,  grasping  great  colonies,  and  absorbing  kingdoms. 
Trace-  it  down  the  hill  of  time  until  it  lies  like  the  prostrate 
columns  of  Tadmor,  the  desolation  of  Ninevah,  the  huge  relics 
of  ancient  India,  and  the  everlasting  monuments  of  still 
Egypt.  Such  is  the  fortune  of  all  things. 

And  now  comes  the  query,  wherefore  this  constant  change 
of  form  in  that  which  was  so  beautiful  ? Wherefore  this 
stamp  of  dark  decay  on  that  which  was  so  fair  and  useful  ? 
It  is,  because  it  was  not  fair  and  useful  enough  ; because  the 
forms,  however  beautiful  and  excellent  of  yesterday,  are  not 
beautiful  and  excellent  enough  for  to-day  — that  death  came 
like  the  liberating  angel,  opening  the  door  for  those  forms 
that  were  imperfect,  and  therefore  in  a state  of  sin.  Mark 
it  well ; nature  is  progressive,  the  soul  of  man  is  progressive, 
the  surrounding  worlds  rushing  through  the  universe  during 
endless  ages,  are  all  progressive.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
rest  in  nature  ; no  peace,  no  let,  no  hindrance.  By  the  eter- 
nal law  of  progress,  that  which  is  permanent  and  that  which 
is  established  in  form  and  stereotyped  in  shape,  is  not  good 
enough  for  the  coming  ages.  Forms  cannot  grow — nature  is 
progressive,  and  nature  or  the  forms  must  die.  Forms  are 
like  books.  They  are  but  the  stereotypes  of  to-day,  and 
must  give  place  to  others  as  time  passes.  Forms  are  good 
enough  for  to-day,  but  not  sufficient  for  to-morrow.  Thus  it 
is  that  the  glorious  comet  — the  magnificent  spectacle  of  the 
vast  illumination  that  spreads  its  enormous  length  of  fire 
through  the  stars,  and  trails  its  golden  tresses  across  the 
sky,  that  this  splendid  pyrotechnic  display  to  the  universe  is 
not  good  enough  when  ye  consider  the  necessities  and  the 
designs  of  thgt  God  who  asks  for  worlds  full  of  breathing 


106 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


creatures  like  himself.  The  comet  is  splendid  in  its  con- 
dition, perfect  after  its  kind,  but  not  perfect  enough  until  it 
has  died  and  passed  into  the  solid  form  of  a laughing  young 
world,  shouting  for  joy  that  it  is  born.  And  the  nebulous 
stars  are  very  beautiful  after  their  kind  ; the  young  worlds 
that  have  been  thrown  off  from  the  burning  sun  are  all  beau- 
tiful, but  not  good  enough.  More  light  — let  them  die  — let 
them  perish.  Oh,  Death  ! Liberty  Angel ! open  the  gates  for 
the  freedom  of  the  souls  of  young  worlds,  that  they  may  go 
forth,  first  in  the  perfection  of  manhood  and  strength,  and 
next  into  old  age,  when  it  will  give  up  the  ghost  of  its  old 
form,  that  it  may  assume  one  more  beautiful  and  glorious. 
The  old  rocks  were  very  grand  in  their  stately,  hard,  crys- 
talline mass.  The  rocky  hills,  the  long  sea-beaches,  the  vast 
sandy  deserts,  all  speak  the  power  of  the  active  God ; and 
could  ye  gaze  upon  them  now,  and  once  again  in  thought 
contemplate  the  spectacle  of  the  moving  sands  and  the  rolling 
waves,  and  hear  the  voice  of  the  thunder  and  the  crash  of 
elemental  strife,  such  as  ye  cannot  now  conceive,  as  the  huge 
glacier  plows  its  tremendous  way  across  the  primeval  con- 
tinents, ye  would  say,  “ Oh ! how  tame  is  this  world,  compared 
with  the  condition  of  those  ancient  times.”  But  there  was  no 
life  then  ; there  were  no  beings  to  gladden  the  heart  of  the 
Creator — no  musical  tones  to  whisper  to  him,  “ Our  Father.” 
The  old  rocks  must  die.  The  ancient  fire-kings  must  restrain 
their  arms  — the  wild  winds  must  be  recalled  to  their  cham- 
bers, and,  in  their  place,  a gentle  stillness  must  pervade  the 
earth.  The  solemn  light  of  a new  morning  has  dawned.  A 
change  of  existence  has  come  to  the  old  world.  It  is  dead, 
dead  ; and  fresh  forms — young,  green  forms,  and  the  many- 
colored  eyes  of  ten  thousand  flowers,  and  the  rejoicing  heads 
of  green  trees  — now  wave  bright  and  beautiful,  where  once 
only  sandy  deserts  spread,  and  bare  rocks  reared  their 
gigantic  heads.  With  the  death  of  the  old  comes  the  life  of 
the  new.  These  old  forms  have  no  inner  power  within  them- 
selves to  grow  or  to  create.  You  must  break  them  up,  for 
they  are  sinful.  Perfect  up  to  the  time  of  their  manhood, 


SIN  AND  DEATH, 


107 


they  then  become  sinful,  if  permitted, to  remain  and  cumber 
the  earth  when  higher  forms  are  needed.  So  with  towns, 
cities,  nations,  institutions  — good  enough  for  the  time,  good 
enough  for  the  babes  of  the  world,  good  enough  for  its 
infancy,  perfect  after  its  generation,  but  not  good  and  per- 
fect enough  for  the  advanced  minds  of  succeeding  genera-  . 
tions.  They  must  die  ; they  must  perish  to  make  room 
for  something  yet  more  beautiful.  Rome,  on  her  seven 
hills  of  pride,  with  her  noble  Coliseum,  her  towers,  her 
mighty  palaces,  her  men  of  wisdom,,  her  legislation,  her 
warrior  strength  and  martial  freedom,  was  enough  for  her 
day.  Corinth  and  Athens  were  enough  for  their  time,  but 
not  enough  for  after  time.  They  had  no  great  factories,  no 
steam  engines,  no  telegraphs,  no  railroads,  no  labor-saving 
machinery,  no  printing  press,  nothing  of  all  that  beautiful 
new  life  that  has  grown  up  out  of  the  ashes  of  the  old  world. 
She  has  perished  in  the  night  of  death  for  her  imperfection. 
Sin  is  upon  her ; let  her  pay  the  wages  of  sin,  the  penalty  of 
death.  Bid  her  spirit  go  free,  to  build  up  new  institutions 
and  a new  civilization.  Around  you  are  the  works  of  your 
hands  ; but  the  machine  over  which  you  have  labored  so  fondly 
to-day,  is  the  machine  on  which  in  ancient  times  the  minds  of 
men  labored,  and  oh ! how  they  strove,  and  struggled,  and 
thought.  With  what  fatherly  care  did  they  band  together 
all  the  parts  of  the  structure,  and  when  the  whole  was  com- 
plete, they  gazed  upon  it  as  the  Creator  does  upon  a new 
world,  exclaiming : “ It  is  the  child  of  my  brain  ; all  hail  to 
a new-born  world  of  thought!”  But  that  old  machine  is 
now  cumbrous  and  useless.  You  look  upon  it  with  indif- 
ference or  disgust.  You  now  find  the  burning  inspiration  of 
new  men  suggesting  higher  inventions.  The  machine  must 
die  ; let  it  crumble  into  dust ; it  is  imperfect.  The  times 
ask  for  better  machines,  and  that  must  die.  The  glorious 
cathedrals,  the  mighty  pyramids,  the  noble  towers,  the  glo- 
rious monuments  of  art,  which  have  been  upreared  in  ancient 
times  — where  are  they  now?  Mark  you  the  clustering  ivy, 
that,  like  the  silver  of  old  age,  consecrates  the  ruin  by  its 


108 


SIN  AND  DEATH- 


beauty.  Alas  ! alas  ! that  beauty  is  but  eating  into  its  heart, 
and  hastening  decay.  It  is  but  the  fluttering  pinion  of  the 
angel  of  death,  who  has  fastened  with  greedy,  grasping 
fingers  upon  the  life  within.  It  must,  it  shall  give  way  to 
younger,  more  useful  and  more  beautiful  forms.  So  your 
towers  shall  totter,  your  steeples  must  fall,  your  mighty 
cathedrals  must  crumble  into  dust,  your  splendid  galleries  of 
art  shall  all  perish,  because  earth  asks  for  more  beautiful 
cathedrals,  higher  towers  and  more  splendid  galleries.  These 
things  are  in  the  state  of  sin.  The  vast  pyramids  and  the 
mighty  ruins  of  Rome,  with  their  colossal  form,  are  but  monu- 
ments of  human  ignorance ; they  are  but  the  evidence  of  an 
age  of  physical  force ; they  are  the  voice  of  history  pointing 
to  that  from  which  you  have  sprung.  The  relics  of  past 
ages,  and  the  imperfection  of  man,  the  evidence  of  sin  and 
brute  force,  they  shall  perish ; and  the  sands  of  the  desert 
are  now  whirling  around  and  over  the  vanishing  forms  of 
buried  cities.  Powerful  kingdoms,  glorious  dynasties,  shall 
arise  in  the  ruins  of  each,  like  the  fabled  phoenix  springing 
from  the  ashes  of  the  past.  Thus  are  sin  and  death  ever 
bound  together. 

Bring  it  down  into  the  moral  world.  See  if  there  be  any 
difference  except  in  quality.  There  is  no  human  being,  from 
the  lowest  criminal  to  the  highest  saint,  that  is  perfect. 
There  is  not  a mind,  however  stored  with  the  wealth  of  the 
past,  that  is  intellectual  enough  for  the  wants  of  to-morrow. 
As  you  men  of  learning  and  science  in  the  nineteenth  century 
are  prodigies  of  acquired  knowledge  compared  with  the 
ancients,  so  will  you  be  children  of  imperfection  compared 
with  your  descendants.  As  your  rude  predecessors  were  the 
rough  husks,  the  unbound  grain,  the  unrefined  gold,  the 
uncarved  diamond,  to  you,  so  are  you  the  quartz,  the  unworked 
metal,  the  unpolished  element,  to  your  descendants.  No 
creature,  however  great,  is  in  a state  of  perfection  in  com- 
parison with  what  shall  be  beyond  himself.  Your  forms  are 
finite,  like  the  forms  of  those  rocks  and  ruined  cities  that 
have  perished ; arc  temporary  forms,  in  which  your  spirit  for 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


109 


a time  grows,  and  then  casts  them  off,  as  the  mould  elaborates 
its  substance  into  usefulness  and  beauty,  and  then  perishes. 
That  form  to  you  is  useful  to  your  spirit  as  a means  of 
expression,  as  a means  of  trying  and  improving  its  strength. 
It  is  the  swaddling  band  by  which  the  infinite  spirit  goes 
forth  to  knowledge.  Your  form  is  the  means  by  which  you 
project  yourselves  into  life,  and  acquire  strength  and  experi- 
ence for  conflict ; no  matter  what  your  state,  whether  yon 
call  it  sinful  or  good.  Ye  have  no  standard  of  good.  All 
things  are  relative.  Whatever  be  your  state,  it  is  not  enough 
for  to-morrow ; and  so  your  forms  shall  perish,  and  the  wages 
of  your  imperfection  shall  be  your  death.  That  breaks  up 
your  form,  and  allows  your  indestructible  spirit  to  go  forth, 
free  to  elaborate  itself  into  some  higher  form. 

Translate  the  sentence  we  have  given  you  in  its  literal 
sense,  and  what  childish  folly  does  it  represent.  The  wages 
of  sin  is  death.  Death  came  into  the  world  long  ere  the  sin 
of  moral  beings  existed.  The  monumental  beings  of  the  old 
rocks  tell  of  death  during  millions  of  ages  as  it  broke  up  the 
forms  of  myriads  of  creatures,  compelling  each  race  and 
generation  of  animal  life  in  succession  to  give  way  for  the 
next  in  the  series.  Death  was  in  the  comet,  when  first  gath- 
ering in  the  heavens.  Death  is  in  the  nebulous  stars.  It  is 
in  eVery  material  of  which  your  world  is  formed.  They 
died  before  they  could  be  assimilated  into  what  constitutes 
your  world.  You  call  the  earth  one — you  call  the  primeval 
rocks  one  primary  substance.  It  is  a compound  of  the  soul 
and  body  of  the  dead.  It  is  a compound  of  the  spirit  of 
matter  and  the  elementary  atoms  which  floated  in  nebulous 
vapor.  These  die,  they  lose  their  individuality  before  they 
can  become  the  compound  you  term  matter,  or  soil.  Death, 
then,  was  on  everything  that  is  compounded  in  your  earth, 
long  ere  man  came  to  harmonize,  behold  and  enjoy  it.  The 
death  of  the  body  is  only  a type  of  change.  One  generation 
passeth  away,  and  another  generation  cometh,  but  the  earth 
remaineth  forever.  The  spirit  that  animates  form  is  inde- 
structible ; it  is  merely  the  external  expression  that  dies. 


110 


SIN  AND  DEATH, 


The  life  of  the  form  is  higher  than  its  expression,  as  God  is 
higher  than  ye  finite  beings.  As  all  finite  beings,  however, 
are  the  children  of  the  infinite  God,  so  are  forms.  The 
imperfect  is  the  child  of  his  perfection,  and  sin,  which  ye 
pronounce  upon — where  will  ye  find  the  standard  ? The 
Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses’  scat.  Your  priests, 
proud  and  disdainful,  when  questioned,  point  to  a book, 
where  they  tell  ye  they  find  the  standard  of  sin.  They  will 
tell  you  through  the  lips  of  their  lawgiver,  “ Thou  shalt  not 
steal,”  and  point  to  his  action  to  show  you  that  you  must  not 
steal  from  the  Hebrews,  but  it  is  very  proper  to  steal  from 
the  Egyptians.  They  will  tell  you,  moreover,  “ you  shall  do 
no  murder and  by  the  very  same  rule  by  which  one  man  is 
condemned,  twelve  men  may  undertake  to  strangle  the  one 
man  for  committing  murder,  and  twelve  thousand  go  forth  to 
commit  murder  at  their  pleasure.  In  the  one  man  it  is  a 
crime ; in  the  twelve  men  it  is  justice  ; in  the  twelve  thousand 
it  is  patriotism.  [Sensation.]  Thus,  throughout  all  your 
commandments,  your  standard  of  sin  is  variable  and  imper- 
fect. Nor  will  your  standard  be  true  while  ye  rest  upon 
books.  Books  are  but  the  expedients  of  the  time.  The 
time  was  when  these  laws  were  framed  for  the  Hebrews,  and 
were  adapted  to  them;  but  the  morrow  came  ; the  age  passed 
away,  and  to  the  Christians  these  laws  were  no  more  'avail- 
able, and  they  perished.  They  were  in  a state  of  sin ; death 
was  pronounced  upon  them.  The  wages  they  gain  is  that 
they  shall  die,  and  give  place  to  more  useful  and  expedient 
standards.  Still,  what  do  ye  find  your  standard  of  what  is 
sinful  ? Do  ye  not  define  it  by  a rule  that  is  moveable  in 
times  and  countries  ? That  which  is  murder  among  white 
men,  is  the  pride  and  triumph  of  the  red  man.  The  savage, 
exulting  with  his  scalps  at  his  belt,  represents  the  hero  of  his 
tribe,  but  to  you  ho  is  the  dark  murderer.  Between  nation 
and  nation,  the  standard  of  sin  is  not  the  same.  Neither  is 
it  so  between  man  and  man.  To  the  poor,  ragged,  starving, 
houseless  wanderer,  it  sternly  says,  “ Thou  shalt  not  covet 
thy  neighbor’s  goods,  though  shivering  in  rags,  pinched  with 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


Ill 


hunger,  while  the  winds  play  upon  thy  unhoused  head,  and 
unshod  feet.”  But  to  the  rich,  reposing  in  luxury,  to  the 
active,  and  strong,  and  grasping,  it  says,  “ Thou  shalt  covet, 
and  the  more  thou  dost  covet,' the  more  successful  thou  shalt 
be ; unless  thou  covetest  thy  neighbor’s  goods,  thou  shalt 
never  have  the  stimulus  to  cheat  him  in  the  large  game  of 
commerce.”  [Sensation.]  So  with  all  your  institutions ; you 
limit  yourselves  to  form,  when  you  narrow  yourselves  down 
to  that  which  is  transient,  that  which  is  made  for  to-day,  but 
is  not  large  enough  for  to-morrow.  The  time  will  come, 
when,  amid  decay  and  confusion,  you  shall  see  death  pro- 
nounced upon  your  institutions,  for  they  are  imperfect,  and 
must  perish.  Your  standard  is  imperfect.  There  is  no 
standard  that  is  perfect,  save  in  the  mind  of  the  Infinite,  who 
is  the  standard  unto  himself.  There  is  no  law  of  right  and 
wrong.  There  is  no  law  defining  sin,  save  that  you  find  in 
the  eternal  law  of  God.  Your  sin  becomes  right,  and  your 
imperfection  becomes  perfection,  when  changed  by  death. 
Then  they  give  way  to  higher,  more  gracious,  and  more  per- 
fected forms.  All  hail,  then,  to  that  which  ye  term  death. 
Trace  its  action,  and  ye  find  it  touches  nothing  but  sin  ; that 
it  leaves  the  good — that  which  is  the  gift  of  God  it  leaves  to 
the  inheritance  of  eternal  life.  Nothing  which  has  been, 
which  was  beautiful  or  true  in  the  past,  has  ever  died.  The 
glories  of  comets,  and  stars,  and  planets,  and  all  the  heavenly 
host,  live  forever.  The  knowledge  of  how  the  divine  wisdom 
has  elaborated  light  out  of  darkness,  is  still  the  teaching  of 
every  age.  The  glorious  old  rocks  are  written  all  over  by 
the  finger  of  that  God  who  so  simply  and  so  touchingly, 
without  one  word  spoken,  has  shown,  in  the  prints  of  the 
ancient  monsters,  and  in  the  different  ascending  strata  of 
rocks  and  forms,  his  great  law  of  production,  decay,  death, 
and  reposition.  There  has  he  shown  ye  a gospel  which  sets 
your  books  at  naught,  defies  your  earthly  systems  and  man- 
made words,  appeals  to  the  reason  and  takes  the  brain 
captive.  There  is  the  gospel  which  cannot  die.  It  is  in 
such  writings  as  these,  such  tokens  as  these,  that  we  find  it. 


112 


SIN  AND  DEATH, 


Out  of  these  imperfect  forms,  out  of  this  vast  array  of  the  con- 
quests which  death  has  made,  ye  can  perceive  how  God  has 
conserved  the  beautiful  and  the  true,  and  handed  it  down 
from  age  to  age  until  it  becomes  the  inheritance  of  eternal 
life,  which  only  is  his  gift. 

Ye  may  trace  it  in  the  history  of  this  great  continent  of 
yours.  It  was  when  a noble,  brave  set  of  men  found  imper- 
fection in  their  fatherland — when  the  laws  which  had  been 
very  good,  and  institutions  which  had  been  necessary  for  the 
preceding  age,  fell  upon  their  souls  like  iron  bolts,  chaining 
down  their  free  spirits  with  a burden  too  grievous  to  be  borne 
longer,  that  they  determined  that  either  they  must  die  to 
England,  or  England  must  die  to  them.  They  felt  that  the 
hour  of  doom  had  come,  when  their  souls  must  be  free ; when 
their  God  and  their  religion,  dearer  to  them  than  all  transient 
forms,  must  be  preserved  by  breaking  the  chain  of  captivity 
which  tyranny  laid  upon  them ; and  so  they  perished  to  their 
native  land,  and  embarked  on  the  vast  waste  of  water,  amid 
cold  and  hardship,  privation  and  death,  in  loss  of  friends  and 
home.  Then,  with  stern,  unshaken  faith,  through  the  long 
winter  days,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  ploughed  the  wide  waste  of 
ocean,  until  at  last,  in  the  season  of  storm  and  cold,  they 
planted  their  weary  feet  in  the  land  of  the  savage,  with  no- 
where to  lay  their  heads,  with  no  shelter  from  the  wintry 
severity  of  a bleak  climate,  without  homes,  or  friends,  or  wel- 
come ; a band  of  lonely  hearts  stood  these  children  of  liberty, 
few,  but  faithful  and  undaunted,  cherishing  a burning  love  for 
that  liberty  inherent  in  all  men,  even  under  monarchical  sys- 
tems of  government,  and  crying  to  all  the  world,  by  voice  and 
example,  “ the  soul  of  man  must  be  free,  and  everything  in 
that  soul  must  be  represented.”  With  no  assistance,  with 
only  the  angels  hovering  around  them,  they  held  on  their  way, 
amid  perils  and  hardships,  to  their  lonely,  distant  home. 
Now,  you  remember  all  this  struggle  and  triumph.  You 
point  to  their  efforts  ; you  speak  of  them  with  bared  heads  ; 
you  bow  down  to  the  very  dust  as  you  pass  the  scene  of  their 
great  labors,  or  the  spot  where  their  ashes  lie.  You  tell 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


113 


your  children.  Ye  tell  the  children  tales  of  their  virtue  as 
ye  sit  long  into  the  winter’s  night,  crooning  over  the  tire. 
When  your  young  men  go  to  plow  the  deep,  or  press  forward 
to  the  struggle  of  life,  with  the  names  of  the  noble  Pilgrim 
Fathers  on  your  tongue,  ye  point  to  the  scenes  of  their  high 
deeds,  and  recall  the  story  of  their  bright  example,  until  your 
heart  leaps  into  your  mouth,  and  you  bid  them  be  like  these 
noble  Pilgrim  Fathers,  the  sires  of  liberty.  Ye  do  all  this : 
but  where  is  Salem’s  gallows  ? Where  is  the  hanging  of  the 
Quaker  women  on  Boston  Common  ? Where  are  the  whipping 
post,  and  pillory,  and  jail  ? The  fire,  sword,  and  faggot  ? The 
hatred,  bigotry  and  detestation,  that  grew  up  between  man  and 
man,  between  brother  and  brother,  out  of  Puritanism  ? Where 
is  all  this  ? Dead  ! dead  ! The  wages  of  that  sin  has  been 
death.  The  virtues  of  the  Puritan  Fathers  live  forever ; 
their  vices  are  with  their  crumbling  ashes,  in  the  dust.  You 
cannot  remember  them  more.  They  have  no  permanent  exist- 
ence. They  were  but  transient ; they  were  but  the  forms  in 
which  their  virtues  were  enshrined.  They  were  narrow 
prison  houses,  in  which  their  souls  were  bound — the  chains 
of  earth  to  their  spirits — and  they  are  scattered  to  the  four 
winds  of  heaven. 

As  with  them,  so  with  every  soul  that  ever  lived.  This  is 
the  secret  of  hero-worship.  Ye  build  up  marble  monuments, 
and  work  into  stone  the  features  of  the  mighty  dead,  when 
ye  would  exalt  their  names.  If  ye  would  exalt  their  names, 
write  them  on  your  souls.  Teach  your  children  to  honor 
them,  until  your  hearts  quiver  again,  as  ye  remember  the 
glorious  sons  of  art  and  science.  These  dead  warriors,  these 
bygone  navigators,  these  departed  heroes,  ye  crowd  around 
the  insensate  marble  because  ye  can  see  the  blessed  form  no 
more,  and  ye  cry,  Hail  to  the  world’s  conquerors ! Ye  remem- 
ber all  of  them  that  is  memorable  and  noble — aye,  their  vir- 
tues are  present,  living  with  you.  They  are  tangible  realities. 
They  are  the  gift  of  God,  which  is  eternal  life.  But  their 
vices  all  have  perished.  It  is  so  even  as  ye  pass  the  clay-cold 
form  of  the  worst  of  criminals.  He  is  dead  now,  and  ye 

8 


114 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


speak  softly  as  ye  pronounce  the  name  of  him  whom,  in  life, 
ye  regarded  with  loathing.  Oh ! those  gentle  tones  with 
which  you  speak  of  a dead  enemy.  “ Let  it  go  ; he  is  dead 
now  ; he  can  harm  us  no  more.”  Why  this  merciful  forgive- 
ness ? Ye  would  have  hounded  him  down  to  death.  Ye  do 
so ; ye  stand,  thousands  of  ye,  with  upturned  faces,  looking 
on  the  one  hapless  wretch  who  stands  on  the  fatal  gallows ; 
and  there  is  in  this  sea  of  human  heads  and  upturned  faces 
nothing  hut  the  deepest  hatred  and  loathing.  Not  one  pity- 
ing glance  does  he  meet  in  the  stony  eyes  around.  The 
miserable  wretch  sees  everywhere  the  reflection  of  his  fatal 
crime.  An  awful  moment  passes.  Now  he  is  dead.  Peace 
to  his  ashes,  is  the  cry  of  every  human  soul. 

And  why  is  this  ? His  sin  is  finite  ; must  not  his  punish- 
ment be  so  also  ? Oh ! ye  who  advocate  the  eternity  of  pun- 
ishment for  a finite  sin,  open  the  page  of  your  Bible  and  read 
that  the  wages  is  paid  with  death.  When  sin  is  accom- 
plished, the  inharmony  produced  is  life  ; the  misery  that  fol- 
lows is  death.  The  world  revolts  against  sin,  and  pronounces 
judgment  upon  it.  “ It  shall  not  be,”  is  the  cry  of  the  world. 
Why  is  this  ? Sin  is  the  cause  of  all  inharmony.  It  breaks 
up  the  ties  of  the  social  relations.  Wherever  there  is  dis- 
cord or  suffering ; wherever  nature’s  uniformity  is  broken ; 
wherever  her  progress  is  checked,  and  her  glorious  laws 
infracted ; wherever  happiness  is  destroyed  or  prevented, 
there  is  sin.  As  sure  as  that  sin  exists,  there  is  a law  by 
which  the  consequence  of  this  sin  is  to  produce  death.  The 
sin  cannot  remain,  nor  its  effects.  They  must  perish ; they 
must  die.  But  to  the  good  and  the  true,  there  is  no  finality. 
All  the  art  and  all  the  science  of  Athens  is  with  you  to-day ; 
all  its  cruelty  and  folly  are  dead.  All  the  martial  pride  and 
virtue,  all  that  was  beautiful  and  grand  in  Rome  and  Greece, 
arc  with  you  to-day ; all  their  savagism,  their  tyranny,  and 
their  errors  arc  dead.  All  the  wondrous  lore  of  Egypt,  all 
the  splendor  and  magnificence  of  India,  arc  with  you  to-day; 
but  all  their  strange,  fantastic  systems,  all  their  mysticisms, 
their  follies,  their  myths,  are  dead,  dead.  It  was  predicted 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


115 


ages  ago,  that  Babylon  would  fall,  because  she  did  not  engraft 
within  herself  that  gift  of  God  which  is  the  gift  of  eternal 
life — the  gift  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  So  with  all  your 
sins  ; they  must  perish,  and  woe  be  to  that  man  who  attempts 
to  stamp  permanence  upon  sin,  or  to  say  that  death  is  other 
than  the  wages  of  sin.  But  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life. 

This  is  our  view  of  sin  and  death.  Rejoice,  bereaved 
mother,  thy  little  blossoms  are  transplanted  ; but  there  was 
imperfection  in  the  little  temple  in  which  that  holy  spirit  was 
enshrined;  there  was  that  imperfection,  which  presses  the 
form  down  to  death  itself ; and  death — the  kind,  benevolent, 
white-robed  angel — the  queen  of  spring — the  gatherer  of 
flowers,  came,  lifting  the  little  one  to  a better  life ; opening 
the  gate  of  its  clay  prison,  and  leading  its  little  footsteps 
into  the  world  of  eternal  sunshine.  She  has  set  your  child 
free.  She  has  broken  up  only  the  imperfect  form,  which  was 
sinful,  and  insufficient  to  the  spirit,  which  was  unable  to 
exchange  it,  which  was  unable  to  externalize  it,  which 
was  unable  to  give  it  what  the  spirit  demanded.  Ye 
may  say,  we  commend  early  death ; that  we  consider  it  a 
blessing — the  glorious  highway — the  archway,  over  which 
the  soul  walks  up  to  a higher  life.  So  we  do ; but  remem- 
ber, that  only  perfection  can  enter  through  the  gateway, 
when  nature’s  purposes  are  fulfilled.  Nature  grants  to 
everything  a stereotyped  form,  for  the  purpose  of  incar- 
nating the  life,  and  giving  the  spirit  expression.  Hence,  pre- 
mature or  violent  death  is  a misfortune,  for  it  is  an  infraction 
of  the  order  of  nature.  But  God  is  good,  and  works  light 
out  of  man’s  darkness.  He  compensates  for  those  violated 
laws  by  which  man  plunges  two-thirds  of  the  race  into  pre- 
mature death.  He  places  little  children  in  that  exalted, 
pure  condition  in  which  angels  dwell,  where  they  live  safe 
from  the  conflicts  of  sin ; but  they  are  thus  deprived  of  the 
strength  that  sin  gives.  Aye,  it  does  give  strength.  In 
every  struggle  with  self  and  sin,  a fresh  strength  is  evolved ; 
and  that  the  little  child  loses.  But  what  it  loses  in  strength, 
it  gains  in  purity ; and  what  humanity  loses  in  purity,  from 


116 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


sin,  it  gains  in  experience,  and  knowledge,  and  strength. 
Oh  ! there  is  a law  of  compensation  in  the  spheres.  This  is 
the  strength,  by  which  every  departed  spirit  becomes  the 
guardian  to  the  being  next  to  itself — by  which  every  departed 
spirit,  with  wide  clairvoyant  vision  and  extended  power,  is 
enabled  to  do  more  for  the  soul  it  loved  on  earth,  than  the 
bud  of  life  that  is  taken  away  in  infancy. 

This  is  the  compensation  which  God,  in  his  goodness,  has 
made  for  the  follies  of  man,  by  which  he  rushes  on  to  prema- 
ture death.  It  is  not  so  with  the  suicide  ; whether  he  seeks 
death  voluntarily,  or  whether  he  falls  into  its  embrace  by 
that  moral  suicide  that  hastens  through  the  gates  of  constant 
sin,  on  to  the  penalty  angel.  In  every  condition,  where  man 
violates  the  knowledge  he  possesses,  he  sins  against  the 
Holy  Ghost.  This  cannot  be  forgiven.  The  Holy  Ghost  is 
knowledge  ; the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  divine  life  within ; and 
that  man  or  woman  who  sins  against  that  law,  must  pay  the 
penalty  by  many  deaths.  There  is  no  forgiveness,  no  com- 
pensation for  that — nothing  but  that  suffering  which  is  the 
death  of  sin. 

But  still  this  law  is  just,  and  still  it  is  full  of  hope.  Still 
it  points  to  the  fact,  that  for  the  criminals,  as  for  the  saints, 
there  is  a Father,  to  whom  all  may  say,  “ I will  arise  and  go 
to  Thee.”  There  is  the  aim  to  which  all  shall  press  forward 
through  the  gates  of  death,  though  they  may  be  ten  thousand 
or  ten  million.  Form  after  form  shall  pass  away ; sin  after 
sin  breaks  up  and  perishes,  like  the  forms  of  ancient  insti- 
tutions ; the  soul  advances  through  pain  and  delay,  until  at 
last  the  free  spirit  stands  upon  the  verge  of  the  highest  life, 
and  approaches  the  throne,  whereon  stands  the  Father. 

It  has  been  said,  u There  shall  be  no  more  death.”  If 
there  be  no  more  change,  there  will  be  annihilation.  Death, 
as  ye  see  it,  is  ended — death,  as  ye  comprehend  it,  the  king 
of  terrors  ; that  which  ye  fear,  and  teach  your  little  children 
to  dread  as  the  greatest  bug-bear  of  existence — that  last 
enemy,  is  conquered  when  knowledge  is  obtained  by  man 
of  what  death  is,  the  main  purpose  which  it  subserved,  and 


SIN  AND  DEATH. 


117 


the  magnificent  ends  for  which  it  is  instituted.  Then  may 
we  truly  cry  out,  “ Oh,  death ! where  is  thy  sting  ? Oh, 
grave!  where  is  thy  victory  ?” 

This  evening  we  propose  to  close  these  addresses,  by  ask- 
ing your  attention,  whilst  we  offer  a few  suggestions  on  the 
subject  of  Hades,  or  the  land  of  the  dead.  The  dead! 
where  are  they?  Oh,  Atmosphere!  Air!  Sky!  Earth!  Ye 
are  all  full  of  them — full  of  the  loving  and  true.  Oh,  human 
soul ! cherished,  and  strengthened,  upheld  and  blest  by 
them ; lamps  to  thy  feet — watchmen  in  thy  darkness,  are 
these  blessed  spirits.  Away  with  the  word ; let  it  never 
more  be  sounded,  in  the  life  of  knowledge  and  wisdom  ; for- 
get that  death  was  e’er  arrayed  in  the  black  form  of  terror, 
and  night,  and  destruction  ; put  on  the  garb  of  rejoicing,  for 
in  that  name  is  recognized  but  the  graduation  in  a higher 
college ; joyfully  send  forth  the  hallelujah  of  triumph  when 
your  children  go  home  to  the  bosom  of  the  Father — when 
the  weary  pilgrims  of  life  pass  through  the  bright  archway 
to  the  better  land.  Welcome  death  as  the  liberty  angel, 
that  shall  set  the  good  free — that  shall  realize  the  gift  of 
God — that  shall  break  up  the  old,  imperfect  forms.  Rejoice, 
and  cry  out  with  us,  “ There  is  no  more  death  ! ” 

If  there  be  any  present  who  desire  to  propound  a fewT 
questions,  we  would  cheerfully  respond. 

[Having  paused  a few  moments,  and  no  person  presenting 
any  inquiries,  the  announcement  of  the  evening  lecture  was 
repeated,  together  with  the'  announcement,  that  in  three 
months  the  details  of  modern  Spiritualism,  its  phenomena, 
art  and  science,  would  be  the  subject  of  further  discourse, 
through  the  present  medium.] 


LECTURE  SIXTH. 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OE  THE  DEAD. 


Delivered  at  Kingsbury  Hall,  Sunday  Evening,  Nov.  4,  I860. 


[Miss  Hardinge  appeared,  and  began  speaking  ten  minutes  before  eight  o’clock.  Hav- 
ing read  a notice  of  a test-medium’s  meeting,  (Ada  L.  IIoyt,)  to  take  place  on  Thursday 
evening,  she  proceeded :] 


I am  also  required  by  the  power  that  I obey,  to  read  to 
you,  as  the  introduction  to  this  evening’s  discourse,  a few 
very  brief  extracts  from  certain  celebrated  English  writers: 

“ The  happiness  of  the  elect  in  heaven  will,  in  part,  consist  in  wit- 
nessing the  torments  of  the  damned  in  hell.  And  among  these,  it  may 
be  their  own  children,  parents,  husbands,  wives,  and  friends  on  earth. 
One  part  of  the  business  of  the  blessed  is  to  celebrate  the  doctrine  of 
reprobation.  While  the  decree  of  reprobation  is  eternally  executing 
on  the  vessels  of  wrath,  the  smoke  of  their  torment  will  be  eternally 
ascending  in  view  of  the  vessels  of  mercy,  who,  instead  of  taking  the 
part  of  those  miserable  objects,  will  say,  1 Amen,  hallelujah,  praise  the 
Lord.’  ” — Emmons ’ Sermons,  xvi. 

“ When  they  (the  saints,)  shall  see  how  great  the  misery  is,  from 
which  God  hath  saved  them,  and  how  great  a difference  he  hath  made 
between  their  state  and  the  state  of  others  who  were  by  Nature,  and 
perhaps  by  practice,  no  more  sinful  and  ill-deserving  than  they,  it  will 
give  them  more  a sense  of  the  wonderfulness  of  God’s  grace  to  them. 
Every  time  they  look  upon  the  damned,  it  will  excite  in  them  a lively 
and  admiring  sense  of  the  grace  of  God  in  making  them  so  to  differ. 
The  sight  of  hell  torments  will  exalt  the  happiness  of  the  saints  for- 
ever.”— Id.,  Sermon  xi. 

“ The  saints  in  glory  will  be  far  more  sensible  how  dreadful  the 
wrath  of  God  is,  and  will  better  understand  how  terrible  the  sufferings 
of  the  damned  arc,  yet  this  will  be  no  occasion  of  grief  to  them,  but 
rejoicing.  They  will  not  be  sorry  for  the  damned ; it  will  cause  no 
uneasiness  or  dissatisfaction  to  them,  but  on  the  contrary,  when  they 
see  this  sight,  it  will  occasion  rejoicing,  and  cxcito  them  to  joyful 
praises.” — Edwards'  Practical  Sermons,  xxii. 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD, 


119 


“ The  Rev.  Thomas  Boston,  an  orthodox  divine,  in  his  ‘ Four-fold 
State,’  says : ‘ The  godly  wife  shall  applaud  the  justice  of  the  judge 
in  the  condemnation  of  her  ungodly  husband.  The  godly  husband 
shall  say,  amen  ! to  the  damnation  of  her  who  lay  in  his  bosom  ! The 
godly  parent  shall  say,  hallelujah ! at  the  passing  of  the  sentence  of 
their  ungodly  child.  And  the  godly  child  shall  from  his  heart  approve 
the  damnation  of  his  wicked  parents  who  begot  him,  and  the  mother 
who  bore  him.’ — p.  336. 

“ The  Rev.  Thomas  Vincent,  a Calvinistic  clergyman  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  indulges  in  the  following  strain  : ‘ This  will  fill  them 
(the  saints,)  with  astonishing  admiration  and  wondering  joy,  when 
they  see  some  of  their  near  relatives  going  to  hell ; their  fathers, 
their  mothers,  their  children,  their  husbands,  their  wives,  their  inti- 
mate friends,  and  companions,  while  they  themselves  are  saved  ! 
. . . . Those  affections  they  now  have  for  relatives  out  of  Christ 

will  cease  ; and  they  will  not  have  the  least  trouble  to  see  them  sen- 
tenced to  hell , and  thrust  into  the  jiery  furnace  ! ’ 

“The  orthodox  Ambrose,  in  his  sermon  on  ‘ Doom’s-day,’  says: 
‘ When  the  damned  have  drunken  down  whole  draughts  of  brimstone 
one  day,  they  must  do  the  same  another  day.  The  eye  shall  be  tor- 
mented with  the  sight  of  devils,  the  ear  with  the  hideous  yellings  and 
outcries  of  the  damned  in  flames,  the  nostrils  shall  be  smothered  as  it 
were  with  brimstone  ; the  tongue,  the  hand,  the  foot,  and  every  part 
shall  fry  in  flames  ! ’ 

“ I quote  the  following  from  a writer  in  the  Congregationalist.  He 
says  : ‘ We  do  not  deny  that  infant  damnation  was  once  the  orthodox 
doctrine  of  the  Church.  # * # # Nor  do  we  deny 

that  Calvin  himself  believed  that  some  infants  might  be  non-elect, 
and  perish ; nor  do  we  deny  that  Calvinistic  writers,  since  his  day, 
have  held  and  taught  that  the  children  of  unbelievers  and  heathen , 
might  be  eternally  lost.’  It  is  still  taught  inferentially  in  the  ‘ Pres- 
byterian Confession  of  Faith.’  It  reads  thus  : 

“ ‘ Elect  infants,  dying  in  infancy,  are  regenerated  and  saved  by 
Christ,  through  the  Spirit,  who  worketh  when,  and  where,  and  how  he 
pleaseth.  So,  also,  are  all  other  elect  personls  who  are  incapable  of 
being  outwardly  called  by  the  ministry  of  the  word.’  pp.  68,  69. 

“ If  such  language  means  anything,  the  phrase,  ‘ elect  infants ,’  pre- 
supposes there  are  non-elect  infants.  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards  says  : 

“ ‘Reprobate  infants  are  vipers  of  vengeance,  which  Jehovah  will 
hold  over  hell  in  the  tongs  of  his  wrath,  until  they  turn  and  spit  venom 
in  his  face.’ 

“ And  John  Calvin,  of  Servetus  memory,  disposes  of  juvenile  sin- 
ners without  ceremony.  He  tells  us  : 

“ ‘ Children  bring  their  condemnation  with  them  from  their  moth- 
er’s womb,  being  liable  to  punishment,  not  for  the  sin  of  another,  but 
for  their  own ; for  although  they  have  not  yet  produced  the  fruits  of 
their  iniquity,  they  have  the  seed  inclosed  in  themselves ; nay,  their 


120 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


whole  nature  is,  as  it  were,  a seed  of  sin ; therefore  it  cannot  but  be 
odious  and  abominable  to  God.’ 

“Here  follow  some  old  orthodox  stanzas,  embodying  the  same 
doctrine  : 

‘ There  is  a never-ending  Hell, 

And  never-dying  pains, 

Where  children  must  with  demons  dwell 
In  darkness,  fire  and  chains. 

*#*##### 

‘ Have  faith  the  same  with  endless  shame, 

To  all  the  human  race  ; 

Tor  Hell  is  crammed  with  infants  damned 
Without  a day  of  grace.’ — Dr.  Watts.” 

“And  for  this  cause  God  shall  send  them  strong  delusion,  that  they  should 
believe  a lie : that  they  all  might  be  damned  who  believed  not  the  truth,  but 
had  pleasure  in  unrighteousness.” — 2 Thessalonians,  2:11,  12. 

“ And  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  brought  unto  him  a woman  taken  in  adul- 
tery : and  when  they  had  set  her  in  the  midst,  they  say  unto  him,  Master,  this 
woman  was  taken  in  adultery,  in  the  very  act.  Now  Moses  in  the  law  com- 
manded us,  that  such  should  be  stoned : but  what  sayest  thou  ? This  they 
said,  tempting  him,  that  they  might  have  to  accuse  him.  But  Jesus  stooped 
down,  and  with  his  finger  wrote  on  the  ground,  as  though  he  heard  them  not. 
So  when  they  continued  asking  him,  he  lifted  up  himself,  and  said  unto  them, 
He  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a stone  at  her.  And  again 
he  stooped  down  and  wrote  on  the  ground.  And  they  which  heard  it,  being 
convicted  by  their  own  conscience,  went  out  one  by  one,  beginning  at  the  eldest, 
even  unto  the  last : and  Jesus  was  left  alone,  and  the  woman  standing  in  the 
midst.  When  Jesus  had  lifted  up  himself,  and  saw  none  but  the  woman,  he 
said  unto  her,  Woman,  where  are  those  thine  accusers  1 hath  no  man  condemned 
thee  ? She  said,  No  man,  Lord.  And  Jesus  said  unto  her,  Neither  do  I con- 
demn thee  : go,  and  sin  no  more.” — St.  John,  8 :3 — 11. 

“ And  when  they  were  come  to  the  place  which  is  called  Calvary,  there  they 
crucified  him,  and  the  malefactors ; one  on  the  right  hand,  and  the  other  on 
the  left.  Then  said  Jesus,  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do.  And  they  parted  his  raiment,  and  cast  lots.  And  the  people  stood 
beholding.  And  the  rulers  also  with  them  derided  him,  saying,  He  saved 
others ; let  him  save  himself,  if  he  be  Christ,  the  chosen  of  God.  And  the 
soldiers  also  mocked  him,  coming  to  him,  and  offering  him  vinegar,  and  saying, 
If  thou  be  the  King  of  the  Jews,  save  thyself.  And  a superscription  also  was 
written  over  him,  in  letters  of  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  This  is  the 
King  of  the  Jews.  And  one  of  the  malefactors,  which  were  hanged,  railed 
on  him,  saying,  If  thou  be  Christ,  save  thyself  and  us.  But  the  other  answer- 
ing, rebuked  him,  saying,  Dost  not  thou  fear  God,  seeing  thou  art  in  the  same 
condemnation?  And  we  indeed  justly;  for  we  receive  the  due  reward  of  our 
deeds  : but  this  man  hath  done  nothing  amiss.  And  ho  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord, 
remember  me  when  thou  comcst  into  thy  kingdom.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him, 
Verily  I suy  unto  thee,  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise.” — St.  Luke, 
23  : 33—43. 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


121 


[Here  Miss  Hardinge  resumed  her  seat  during  a few  moments,  which  were  occupied  by 
singing  ; at  the  conclusion  of  which,  she  proceeded  :] 

“ To-day  stialt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise.” 

“ And  to-morrow  shalt  thou  and  thy  sons  be  with  me.” 

When  this  century  is  dead,  scarcely  a foot  that  now 
presses  this  mortal  earth,  but  will  be  crumbling  in  the  dust ; 
and  every  one  of  those  bright  spirits,  those  radiant  souls, 
that  now  think  and  are  — where  will  they  be?  Either  with 
Saul  and  his  sons,  or  with  Jesus  in  paradise ; every  one  of 
them  will  be  in  Hades.  Is  not  the  time  come  when  ye  should 
know  whither  ye  are  bound?  We  have  read  ye  this  night 
some  of  those  teachings  which  for  fifteen  hundred  years  have 
led  ye  onwards  to  the  grave.  We  have  read  ye  this  night 
the  only  solution  which  the  most  civilized  churches,  and  the 
most  civilized  nations  of  the  earth  offer  concerning  the  land 
of  the  dead.  As  ye  must  all  go  there  — as  there  is  no  man, 
saint  or  sinner  — as  there  is  scarcely  a heart  that  now 
pulsates  with  life,  but  has  throbbed  with  agony  at  the  deep 
mystery  of  the  grave ; as  there  is  not  a single  human  being 
that  has  not  cried,  Where,  where  are  they  gone  ? where 
must  I follow  them  ? so  these  Christian  divines,  these 
watchmen  on  the  walls  of  Zion,  have  attempted  to  answer 
the  question  : Where  are  they  ? True,  they  do  not  all  agree. 
One  writes  on  your  monumental  gravestone,  “ Here  lies ;” 
another  writes,  “ Gone  to  God  ;”  one  writes,  “ Here  rests  ;” 
and  another,  “ Here  waits  until  the  last  trump  shall  sound.” 
But  the  world  is  not  satisfied.  This  is  shown  by  the  presence 
of  the  thinking  men  and  women  that  are  here  this  night, 
waiting  upon  the  words  of  the  very  babes  and  sucklings,  the 
handmaidens  and  weak  of  earth,  in  the  hope  to  catch  some  more 
hopeful  light  from  some  torch  flashed  by  the  hands  of  angels  in 
the  midst  of  this  hideous  night  of  darkness ; it  is  proven  by 
your  presence,  thinking  men  and  women,  and  the  presence 
of  millions  who  have  crowded  around  the  footsteps  of  your 
speaker,  since,  three  short  years  ago,  she  listened  to  the  voices 
of  the  immortals,  for  the  first  time,  through  the  medium- 
power  of  the  very  one  whom  ye  will  hear  next  Thursday. 


122 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


Aye,  through  such  babes,  such  weak,  such  simple,  such  common 
things  of  earth,  as  uninstructed  women  and  weak  children ; 
through  brands  such  as  no  Christian  divine  would  pluck  from 
the  burning ; through  the  low,  tiny  voices  of  nature’s  little 
ones ; through  the  unpremeditated  speech  of  the  frail  things 
of  earth,  ye  seek  for  some  higher  light.  God  help  the 
thought  of  this  day,  the  minds  and  the  souls  of  those  who 
have  been  starved  down  to  this  point,  if  down  ye  are 
descending  to  ask  for  light  through  such  means. 

Here  is  a representation  of  the  Christian’s  interpretation 
of  Hades,  [pointing  to  the  book  from  which  she  had  read  the 
previous  extracts.]  Side  by  side  with  this  stands  the  inter- 
pretation given  by  the  founder  of  that  faith  termed  Christian. 
Two  classes  of  sinners  s.tand  before  him.  These  sinners  once 
stood  before  him  — these  very  sinners  whom  John  Calvin, 
and  Martin  Luther,  and  their  followers,  have  denounced,  and 
consigned  to  the  very  lowest  depths  of  Hades.  We  accept 
these  precious  ones  — these  little,  frail  lambs  of  love;  these 
simple,  tender  beings  whom  Jesus  so  fondly  caressed,  the 
non-elect  little  children  who  pave  the  dreadful  ways  of 
that  hideous  kingdom  of  darkness,  where  the  non-elect,  in 
reprobation,  endure  eternal  torments.  We  accept  them. 
Here  ye  have  a representation  of  what  they  may  expect 
through  the  lips  of  Jesus.  With  this  clue  before  us,  we 
proceed  to  consider  the  evidences,  historical  as  well  as  spir- 
itual, the  revelations  of  the  past  as  well  as  those  of  the 
present,  concerning  the  Hades  of  these  Christians,  and  the 
Hades  to  which  you  all  must  go.  We  examine  the  most 
early  revelations  claimed  to  be  brought  by  spirits,  claimed  by 
the  profoundest  sages,  and  the  deepest  philosophers,  men  of 
science  and  men  of  mind,  to  be  brought  by  spiritual  beings. 
We  find,  on  examining  all  systems  of  religion,  that  none  has 
ever  claimed  any  authorship  except  that  of  spiritual  beings. 
The  evidence  afforded  by  monumental  remains,  that  spiritual 
communion,  in  all  its  present  external,  phenomenal  phases, 
did  exist,  justifies  our  belief  that  they  did  commune  with 
spiritual  beings,  during  trances,  and  visions  of  the  night, 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD 


123 


through  the  presentation  of  the  forms  of  the  departed  in 
bliss  or  torment.  The  Hindoos  fashioned  this  theology,  this 
teaching  concerning  the  dealings  of  their  God  with  the  dead. 
They  were  accustomed  to  assemble  on  the  banks  of  their 
rivers,  which  were  considered  sacred,  both  in  India  and  in 
Egypt,  from  the  absence  of  rain,  and  the  value  attached  to 
the  inundations  occurring  from  the  rising  of  these  sacred 
rivers.  Here,  then  the  judges  of  the  dead  assembled,  forty- 
two  in  number.  Witnesses  were  called,  and  the  form  of  the 
clay-cold,  broken  temple  was  laid  before  them.  They 
believed  that,  inspired  by  their  gods,  they  were  enabled  to 
recognize  the  condition  through  which  the  deceased  had 
passed.  They  examined  the  witnesses  as  to  life  and  conduct. 
If  these  witnesses  pronounced  in  favor  of  the  actions  of  the 
dead,  the  corpse  was  then  rowed  over  the  river,  to  a place 
termed  Elysium,  or  a place  of  rest.  There,  honorable  sepul- 
ture was  afforded  to  the  remains.  In  this  the  Egyptians 
believed  they  presented  a type  of  the  condition  of  the  soul 
of  the  departed.  “ He  is  gone  to  rest,”  they  said.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  crimes  were  multiplied  by  the  witnesses, 
many  offenses  were  heaped  upon  the  memory  of  the  dead, 
then  they  committed  those  insensate  remains  to  a certain 
ditch,  termed  Tartar,  a place  which  abounded  with  fire  and 
brimstone,  find  from  which  the  Christians  have  stolen  their 
fabled  hell.  Here,  in  the  midst  of  the  debris  of  certain 
volcanic  localities,  all  of  which  poured  into  the  same  ditch, 
the  deceased  was  considered  to  be  in  what  was  a type  of  the 
soul’s  condition.  “ His  body,”  they  said,  “ is  being  purified 
by  the  constant  effluvia  of  that  matter  which  produces  fire. 
We  have  committed  his  remains,  in  evidence  of  his  soul’s 
condition,  to  the  purifying  action  of  that  matter  which  will 
remove  the  stains  from  it.”  They  never  entertained  the 
savage,  hideous  idea,  that  their  God  punished  for  the  love  of 
punishment.  They  only  conceived  of  punishment  as  a means 
of  reform.  These  ignorant  heathens,  these  ancient  barba- 
rians, entertained  a conception  of  a God  who  was  a father, 
and  hence  they  supposed  their  God,  instead  of  delighting  in 


124 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


the  sufferings  of  his  prodigal  children,  whom  lie  had  thus 
fashioned  in  evil,  ordained  this  suffering  as  a means  of 
reform.  True,  they  were  but  heathens.  They  had  not  then 
the  light  of  Christian  wisdom ; they  had  not  the  advantage 
of  the  religion  of  your  Tertullians,  St.  Jeromes,  and  St. 
Augustines,  and  the  noble  Christian  Fathers,  who,  fashioning 
the  Athanasian  Creed,  determined  to  shut  down  the  gates  of 
fire  and  brimstone  forever  on  human  souls.  This  is  not, 
however,  the  opinion  of  the  heathens. 

They  represented  the  various  series  of  animal  existence, 
as  each  one  typical  of  certain  crimes.  Every  animal,  with 
its  peculiar  characteristics,  was  to  them  an  evidence  of  the 
peculiar  characteristics  of  criminal  minds.  Thus  they  loathed 
the  swine,  because  they  found  in  it  the  gross  crime  of  sen- 
suality. They  likened  the  lion  and  the  tiger  to  the  ferocious 
minds  that  thirsted  for  vengeance  and  human  blood.  One  of 
the  great  teachings  of  their  sages  and  philosophers,  was  that 
the  soul,  in  its  similarity  to  these  animals,  was  compelled  to 
pass  into  a state  represented  by  these  animals.  In  process 
of  time,  as  all  ideas  which  are  too  abstract  or  sublime  for 
the  vulgar  mind  to  comprehend,  become  gross  and  sensual,  the 
people  were  taught  to  believe  that  the  souls  actually  trans- 
migrated into  these  forms.  This  was  not  the  teaching  of 
Zoroaster,  or  Buddha ; this  was  not  the  teaching  of  those 
priests  and  sages  of  old,  who  held  that  there  was  a secret, 
inner  and  spiritual  meaning,  and  an  outward  and  vulgar  signifi- 
cance to  their  teachings.  The  priests  instituted  mysteries  to 
conceal  these  things  from  the  people,  in  order  to  perpetuate 
their  power.  The  idea,  however,  was  the  same  — that  the 
animals  represented  the  various  conditions  of  criminality. 
But  their  idea  also  extended  to  fourteen  spheres  above  earth, 
through  which  they  conceived  the  souls  of  the  blest  and  happy 
should  pass  before  they 'arrived  at  that  ultimate  state  of  per- 
fection, where  they  entered  the  celestial  realms  of  their  God. 
You  will  recognize  in  this  conception  of  the  ancients  every- 
where, tho  idea  of  progress.  You  will  perceive  that  this 
idea  prevailed  throughout  all  ancient  religions.  Even  in  the 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


125 


savagism  of  the  druidical  forms,  in  the  midst  of  the  wild  and 
fantastic  systems  of  the  Norsemen  and  Scandinavians,  there 
was  a world  of  progress  in  the  hereafter,  where  the  soul  only 
suffered  punishment  for  the  sake  of  reform  ; where  the  pur- 
gatory of  the  Catholics  was  typified  by  the  conditions  of 
discipline  through  which  the  soul  passed  for  the  purpose  of 
purification.  You  cannot  point  to  one  religion  on  the  face  of 
the  earth,  savage  enough  to  think  of  destruction,  except  the 
systems  which  we  have  this  evening  quoted  literally. 

We  now  proceed  to  consider  what  was  the  conception  of 
the  founders  of  your  religion  — the  Jews  — the  religion  of 
the  Old  Testament.  We  find  there,  that  the  Jews,  who  had 
been  commanded  to  spoil  the  Egyptians,  obeyed  the  command 
literally.  They  not  only  spoiled  them  of  their  ornaments, 
but  they  spoiled  them  of  their  religion ; they  stole  their 
myths,  and  appropriated  their  forms  and  ceremonies.  Hence 
they  adopted,  as  a portion  of  these  ceremonies,  this  custom  ; 
they  established  a valley  called  the  Yalley  of  Hinnom.  Here 
it  was  the  custom  of  the  Jews,  who  dreaded  death  as  the  last 
great  evil  that  could  befall  them,  to  place  the  bodies  of  male- 
factors. They  carried  them  to  this  valley  and  subjected  them 
to  the  action  of  destroying  fire.  They  had  a superstition 
that  there  was  a worm  that  preyed  on  the  body  after  death  ; 
that  this  worm  was  contagious  and  would  communicate  itself 
to  the  living.  Hence  they  established  a circle  of  fires  around 
this  valley ; they  called  this  Gehenna.  They  kept  these  fires 
constantly  burning,  and  as  they  were  accustomed  in  poetical 
phrases  of  allegorical  imagery  to  liken  their  souls  to  spiritual 
forms,  they  likened  wickedness  to  the  worm  that  never  dies 
and  the  fire  that  is  never  quenched,  because  this  worm  was 
to  them  the  most  terrible  of  all  fears  — because  this  fire  typi- 
fied to  them  the  disgraceful  death  of  the  malefactor.  Those 
that  died  with  the  odor  of  sanctity,  as  your  modern  divines 
have  it,  were  committed  to  stately  tombs  and  sepulchres  after 
the  Egyptian  fashion ; but  those  that  were  supposed  to  be 
guilty  of  the  crimes  abhorrent  to  the  legislative  bodies  of 
the  day,  were  thus  typically  reduced  to  the  condition  of  hell’s 


126 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


torments.  If  you  will  examine  the  Hebrew  language,  and 
compare  it  with  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  you  will  find  that 
there  is  but  one  signification  for  their  idea  of  Hell,  or  Shcol , 
as  they  term  it,  that  of  the  pit,  or  grave,  or  darkness.  The 
Jews  had  no  knowledge  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
There  is  no  such  teaching  throughout  the  Old  Testament,  with 
the  exception  of  the  weird  and  unlawful  testimony  of  the 
woman  of  Endor.  There  is  no  testimony  in  that  book,  which 
you  place  in  the  hands  of  your  children  as  the  guide  to  salva- 
tion, of  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  “ If  a 
man  dies,  shall  he  live  again  ?”  cries  the  wisest  of  men.  The 
teaching  throughout  the  Old  Testament  is  conclusive  upon 
this  point,  and  is  acknowledged  to  be  so  by  the  best  of  author- 
ities. You  must  accept  the  teaching,  therefore,  that  the 
Hell  so  frequently  quoted — this  burning  lake  of  brimstone, 
and  fire,  and  torment,  so  often  dwelt  upon  by  the  fire-loving 
teachers  of  modern  times,  means  nothing  more  than  the 
material  forms  of  burial,  which  the  Egyptians  and  Jews  alike 
adopted.  The  Jews  had  no  conception  of  fiery  torment  when 
Jesus  came  among  them.  There  were  very  few  of  the  sects 
— the  Pharisees  only  — that  accepted  the  teaching  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  Until  the  Jews  had  stolen  a little 
from  their  captors,  (the  Chaldeans,)  there  is  no  evidence  that 
they  knew  of  a life  beyond  the  grave.  Whence  comes  this 
idea  of  a Hell  and  Hell  torments,  then,  except  from  the 
physical  condition  which  we  have  stated  as  connected  with 
the  religions  both  of  India  and  Egypt,  and  also  the  form  of 
burial  among  the  Jews. 

We  now  take  a glance  at  the  founders  of  your  classical 
systems — at  your  masters  in  knowledge,  at  your  scientific 
teachers,  at  your  great  authorities  in  Greece  and  Rome. 
There  do  we  find  that  those  teachers  whose  works  you  put 
into  the  hands  of  your  children,  those  authors  from  whom 
you  derive  the  chief  part  of  your  learning  and  wisdom,  the 
wise  and  virtuous  Socrates,  the  spiritual  Plato,  the  pure- 
minded  Pythagoras,  the  sagacious  Solon,  the  noble  Lycurgus, 
all  those  mighty  minds  that  grappled  with  the  unseen  things 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


127 


of  the  past,  present  and  future,  and  are  now  held  up  by  you 
as  examples ; those  Aristotles,  those  Ciceros,  those  Demos- 
thenes, who  are  the  established  patterns  of  eloquence  and 
philosophy,  knowledge,  virtue,  and  religion — there  do  we  find 
that  all  these  men  possessed  the  same  ideas  of  a hereafter, 
the  same  merciful,  progressive,  and  reverential  conceptions 
of  their  God  and  his  ways.  The  Greeks  told  of  a Hades — 
neither  Heaven,  nor  yet  Hell — not  the  realm  of  Pluto,  nor 
the  glorious  land  of  light  where  reigned  the  one  Supreme  in 
the  mountains  of  supernal  bliss ; amid  regions,  a place  alike 
of  pain  and  pleasure,  where  the  shades  of  the  departed 
wandered  hither  and  thither,  some  in  penitential  exercises — 
some  in  efforts  to  prepare  themselves  for  yet  higher  con- 
ditions ; some  heroes,  demi-gods,  lares,  and  penates,  as 
household  gods  returning  to  watch  over  those  friends  and 
relatives  they  had  left  behind.  There  was  a wise  and 
beautiful  custom  among  the  early  Greeks,  continued  by  the 
Romans,  of  every  year  opening  their  houses,  and  decorating 
their  dwellings  with  flowers,  and  for  ten  days  celebrating 
festivals  in  honor  of  their  departed  ancestors.  Then  they 
said,  “ Our  hearth-stone  is  graced  with  the  presence  of  the 
spirits  of  the  dead.”  Then  they  said,  44  The  forms  of  the 
departed  flock  around  us.”  Then  did  they  claim  that 
the  young  and  the  beautiful,  the  noble  and  the  brave, 
the  strong  and  the  true,  all  returned  to  visit  the  ancestral 
dwellings,  and  they  rejoiced  exceedingly.  This  was  the 
belief  of  the  wisest,  the  truest,  and  the  best.  In  Rome  we 
find  the  same  idea  prevailing,  with  something  more  of  the 
Egyptian  darkness,  from  which  all  the  mythologies  of  the 
ancients  came.  There  is  perpetually  tho  idea  of  the  land  of 
Tartar  ; there  is  the  ditch  Tartar,  which  gives  rise  to  the 
idea  of  a land  which  the  Romans  termed  Tartarus,  in  honor 
of  its  Egyptian  origin,  we  presume.  There  it  was  supposed 
that  instead  of  mourning  as  the  shades  of  Greece  mourned, 
there  was  a physical  fire,  by  which  the  souls  of  the  evil 
became  purified  from  their  criminal  practices ; but  whether 
we  turn  to  Greece,  Rome,  Persia,  India,  or  Egypt ; whether 


128 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD, 


we  search  the  far  islands  of  the  East,  or  look  into  great 
mother  Nature  herself,  we  find  everywhere  a reflection  of  that 
assurance  of  Jesus,  that  God  is  our  Father,  and  that  all  his 
dealings  with  his  children  must  partake  of  the  character  of 
his  Fatherhood  ; that  there  is  a hereafter  of  progress,  spheres 
adapted  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  a condition  where 
every  soul  shall  have  a chance  of  reviewing  the  past,  and 
ascending  the  mountains  of  future  light  until  he  stands  upon 
the  hill-top  of  purification.  This  is  the  system  of  all  the 
great  and  all  the  noble  minds  that  have  ever  lived,  from 
Buddha  down  to  the  present  day.  We  must  not  include  in 
this  category,  the  noble  and  the  true  of  Christianity,  for  these 
will  not  accept  a place  beside  a Plato  and  a Pythagoras. 
Whilst  they  are  content  to  dispute  over  the  subtleties  of  an 
Aristotle  and  a Cicero — whilst  they  are  contented  to  found 
all  their  learning  upon  the  mighty  walls  and  strong  founda- 
tion which  the  brave  old  ancients  have  laid,  we  must  not 
speak  to  them  of  their  religion.  Oh,  no ! The  God  who 
fashioned  them,  doubtless  brought  the  heathens  into  existence 
for  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  Christians  art  and  science, 
but  when  this  is  accomplished,  they  cast  them  into  that  same 
destroying  lake  of  brimstone  to  which  they  devote  their  own 
non-elect.  Oh,  men  and  women ! we  speak  to  you  with  a 
sharp  and  bitter  tongue  of  satire ; but  when  the  heart  pauses, 
when  the  affectional  nature  but  for  one  single  instant  con- 
templates scenes  like  these,  well,  well  may  we  send  up  the 
pealing  cry  to  our  God  : “ Give  us  our  daily  bread  ; give  us 
daily  bread  this  day,  fresh  from  the  hideous  impurities  of  the 
past.” 

Permit  us  now  to  review  some  conceptions  which  grow  out 
of  a purer  and  better  teaching — that  of  the  sinless  One  of 
Nazareth.  We  have  refrained  from  speaking  of  his  system, 
because  we  have  once  more  the  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness 
and  preparing  the  way  for  its  renovation  once  again.  We 
will  now  briefly  review  his  testimony  and  teaching.  Chris- 
tians, follow  us  through  the  page  of  your  founder’s  teaching. 
What  is  the  first  point  in  it  ? Jesus  everywhere  represents 


129 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 

an  impartial  God  ; he  everywhere  represents  a God  who  sends 
his  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust ; his  sunlight  to  the  good 
and  the  evil.  He  then  tells  you  to  be  perfect  as  your  Father 
in  heaven  is  perfect.  When  you  inquire  how  far  he  carries 
this  teaching  into  after  life,  remember  the  words  quoted  this 
night.  On  the  dreadful  cross,  in  the  last  dark  hour  of  agony, 
with  all  the  accumulated  horrors  of  the  most  painful  death 
that  ever  was  inflicted  on  the  writhing  form  of  mortality, 
groaning  beneath  the  burning  sky  of  this  torrid  land,  he  cries, 
“ Father,  forgive  them.”  Why  ? “ For  they  know  not  what 

they  do.”  Oh ! ye  who  plead  for  the  destruction  of  these 
little  ones,  that,  like  the  men  and  women  of  Ninevah  of  old, 
knew  not  their  right  hand  from  their  left,  go  to  the  God  of 
Jonah,  and  ask  whether  he  destroyed,  and  whether  you  can 
destroy  them  ? If  ye  question  this,  go  take  up  the  God  of 
that  Jesus  who  represented  the  Father  here,  who  represented 
the  God-principle,  who  moved  through  this  earth,  whose 
worn  and  bleeding  feet  everywhere  left  the  footprints  of  what 
he  taught  the  Father  was,  and  everywhere  you  will  find 
mercy,  compassion  and  charity,  because  men  knew  not  what 
they  did.  Take  the  next  passu-ge  which  we  have  quoted  : 
“ Verily,  this  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise.”  Mark 
it,  this  was  spoken  on  the  day  of  the  crucifixion.  Where 
was  Jesus,  then,  on  the  first  day?  You,  Christian  men  and 
women,  claim,  he  had  not  yet  ascended  to  the  Father,  when 
seen  by  Mary  Magdalene  and  others,  after  the  third  day.  Ye 
do  not,  according  to  your  systems^  claim  that  Jesus  had  yet 
risen  ; ye  do  not  even  grant  ascension,  until  long  after  this 
first  day.  Where,  then,  was  this  paradise  ? It  was  not 
heaven ; it  could  not  have  been  hell,  for  he  would  not  have 
mocked  the  dying  penitent  with  the  promise  of  a place  of 
torture.  Paradise  must  mean  that  which  the  eastern  word 
itself  signifies — the  place  of  rest,  the  elysian  fields,  that  mid- 
region or  condition  of  progress,  where  the  soul  prepares  for 
the  future  heaven.  It  was  not  the  place  of  finality.  This  is 
a proof  of  the  fact,  by  the  very  teachings  of  your  own  sys- 
tems. Jesus  then  promised  to  the  dying  thief  some  better 
9 


130 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD 


condition  than  the  frightful  state  of  suffering  which  your 
religion  teaches,  and  that  better  condition  was  not  a final  one, 
because  it  was  not  heaven.  Somewhere,  then,  there  is  the 
Hades  of  the  Greeks ; the  Tartarus  of  the  Homans ; the 
Elysian  Fields  of  the  Egyptians ; somewhere  there  is  a mid- 
region, a condition  of  progress.  If  your  New  Testament  be 
true,  and  ye  question  this  page,  turn  to  another.  There  do 
you  find  one  of  the  companions  of  Jesus,  one  of  his  most 
trusted  and  intimate  personal  followers,  telling  of  the  time 
when  Jesus  went  and  preached  to  the  spirits  in  prison.  Would 
he,  the  kind,  the  merciful  master,  the  friend  of  lowly,  sinful 
women,  and  of  every  suffering  creature,  would  he  have  given 
and  preached  the  possibility  of  heaven  to  souls  eternally  con- 
signed to  torment.  What  is  the  purpose  of  preaching,  except 
to  make  those  who  listen,  better?  For  what  purpose  would 
the  words  of  the  kind,  the  true,  the  Eternal  One  have  been 
bestowed,  unless  for  purposes  of  reform  ? If  those  in  prison 
were  not  capable  of  being  benefited  by  his  words,  would  he 
have  offered  them  ? Oh ! by  your  own  systems  ye  are 
judged  ; by  your  own  systems  ye  are  condemned,  because 
your  ways  are  not  equal. 

The  teachings  of  such  men  as  these — the  teachings  of  an 
English  Spurgeon,  who  represents  to  you  that  the  worst  tor- 
ments of  the  damned  in  hell  consist  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  joys  of  paradise,  from  which  they  are  eternally  excluded  ; 
such  teachings  in  this  nineteenth  century,  to  men  and  women 
who  are  fathers  and  mothers,  cannot  stand  side  by  side  with 
the  words  of  Him  whom  they  blazon  on  their  banners,  whom 
they  call  their  founder,  and  before  whose  name  every  knee 
must  bow  low.  Christ  and  Christianity  differ  in  their  teach- 
ing of  the  hereafter.  We  take  up  the  simple  words  of  Jesus  ; 
if  they  are  not  represented  truly,  you  had  better  revise  your 
Bible  ; if  they  arc,  we  find  here  sufficient  evidence  not  only 
of  the  gentle,  loving,  and  protecting  character  of  the  Father, 
but  we  find  a distinct  and  definite  declaration  of  what  is  the 
state  of  the  soul  in  the  hereafter.  .We  find  here  conclusive 
evidence  that  that  state  is  not  a final  one. 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


131 


This  brings  us  to  the  revelations  of  modern  Spiritualism. 
What  right  have  we  to  quote  them  as  authority  ? There  are 
no  gospels  in  the  name  of  the  spirits.  There  are  no  creeds, 
nor  testaments,  nor  apostle’s  sanction.  Oh  no ; those  who 
send  out  spiritual  literature  to  the  world,  put  forth  but  mere 
ephemera ; that  which  is  placed  before  the  world  as  a spirit- 
ualistic truth  to-day,  and  which  is  sufficient  for  to-day,  will 
not  be  sufficient  for  to-morrow.  This  lies  at  the  very  foun- 
dation of  all  spiritual  revelation.  It  seems  impossible  that 
two  or  three  can  gather  together  for  the  simple  purpose  of 
recording  an  opinion  shared  in  by  all,  and  the  world  sneers 
at  the  spiritualists  for  their  want  of  organization.  The  Chris- 
tian world — the  Christian  organ,  writes:  The  spiritualists 
have  not  unity  enough  amongst  themselves  even  to  build  a 
barn.  The  Christian  journals  are  right;  the  spiritualists  have 
too  much  spirit.  Aye,  that  is  the  point,  too  much  spirit ; 
for  the  spirits  have  determined  that  they  shall  know  what 
they  write,  before  they  presume  to  give  it  forth  as  authority. 
They  shall  no  more  write  in  haste,  all  men  are  liars ; they 
shall  take  their  time  to  think  about  it,  and  prove  it,  before 
they  write  it ; and  therefore  you  cannot  find  that  there  are 
two  spiritualists  who  are  yet  in  a position  to  agree  together 
sufficiently  upon  that  which  they  have  received,  to  write  it 
down,  and  stereotype  it  as  truth,  but  there  are  certain  points 
upon  which  the  whole  faith  of  the  spiritual  communion 
hangs,  and  this  is  the  knowledge  of  the  hereafter.  At  this 
moment,  were  these  walls  to  grow  vivid  to  your  eyes  with 
the  glorious,  radiant  forms  that  are  ascending  and  descending 
around  you  ; were  this  air  to  be  made  thick  with  the  myriads 
peopling  it,  who  are  now  attracted  hither  by  ties  of  sympa- 
thy, and  kindness,  standing  by  your  side,  or  hovering  above 
your  heads,  of  what  value  would  it  be  to  look  upon  them  ? 
Of  what  value  would  it  be  to  your  life-practice,  to  your 
deeds,  your  purposes,  and  your  conduct  hereafter,  to  gaze  on 
the  speechless  forms  of  these  living  dead  ? They  would  be 
but  Ezekiel’s  valley  of  dry  bones,  with  the  skin,  the  flesh, 
the  sinews,  upon  them.  They  would  be  nothing  but 


132 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


statuesque  men,  risen  up  again.  It  is  when  you  call  the  four 
winds  of  heaven,  and  put  the  breath  in  them,  and  make 
them  open  their  marble  lips,  and  prophesy,  and  tell  you  of 
the  hereafter,  it  is  then  that  the  spirits  become  a living  army 
of  exceeding  great  strength.  It  is  not  in  the  revelation  that 
the  spirits  bring,  or  the  news  they  have  to  offer,  that  all  the 
gist  of  Spiritualism  is  to  be  found.  And  in  this  view,  no  two 
spiritualists  can  agree  as  to  what  is  best  to  be  done  by  way 
of  hammering  the  chains  of  authority  tight  around  the 
necks  of  one  another ; but  they  can  agree  in  what  their 
fathers  and  mothers,  their  brothers  and  sisters,  the  friends 
whom  they  loved  and  trusted  on  earth,  those  who  never 
deceived  them,  and  those  whose  interest  it  is  to  tell  them  the 
truth — they  can  agree  upon  what  these  spirits  tell  them. 
There  is  but  one  tale  to  tell,  and  that,  not  in  three  thousand 
different  versions,  after  the  manner  of  sectarian  systems ; 
they  tell  it  simply,  because  they  are  in  the  living  experience 
of  that  which  they  tell.  They  all  give  one  answer  to  the 
question,  where  do  the  dead  find  rest?  “ We  are  happy,  or 
we  are  miserable,  in  precise  proportion  to  what  we  have  done 
on  earth,  but  we  live.”  Life  is  action ; life  demands  sub- 
jects for  action.  Subjects  must  be  either  above,  or  beneath, 
those  who  act.  If  they  are  above  those  who  act,  then  do 
the  spirits  themselves  become  the  subjects  of  higher  beings 
than  themselves.  If  they  are  below  the  spirits,  then  they 
are  yourselves,  for  who  but  yourselves  are  below,  or  next  to 
the  spirits  ? In  communion  with  you,  therefore,  in  action 
with  you,  and  those  about  yourselves,  their  lives  are  spent. 
What  do  they  bring,  and  what  is  the  purpose  of  their  coming, 
and  what  the  connection  of  their  life-practice  with  you  ? To 
warn  you  how  to  act ; to  bind  up  the  broken  hearts  of  those 
bereaved  mourners,  who  know  not  where  the  precious  angels 
of  the  household  are  gone  ; to  warn  you  of  your  own  fate  ; to 
point  the  way  with  index  finger  to  the  better  condition  of  a 
higher  life ; to  bring  you  fragments  of  new  sciences.  And 
think  you  that  all  those  blessings,  all  those  good  deeds,  that 
this  life  of  ministering,  shall  not  avail  to  elevate  the  condition 


133 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 

of  those  who  thus  act  towards  you  ? Can  they  remain  sta- 
tionary ? With  the  very  worst  among  them,  if  they  come  to 
earth  to  teach  the  friend  they  have  left  behind,  to  stretch  out 
the  hand  of  warning  and  instruction  to  those  who  need  it — will 
not  this  procure  for  the  very  worst  among  them  some  immu- 
nity ? Is  there  nothing  in  this  constant  work  of  ministering 
which  shall  profit  the  souls  who  are  performing  it,  or  do  they 
perform  it  as  one  vast,  barren  round  of  simple  duty  ? Who 
asks  the  spirits  to  come  ? Who  commands  the  spirits  to  come  ? 
What  brings  them  ? Love  for  you  ; tender,  burning  affection 
for  those  they  have  left  behind.  If  they  have  carried  with 
them  that  one  impulse  of  affection,  which  thus  permits  them 
to  return  and  seek  your  good,  how  can  you  suppose  that  their 
life  is  a stationary  one  ? Oh,  look  upon  the  world’s  millions  ! 
Gaze  only  on  the  fragments  of  beings  who  are  trembling  here 
this  night,  and  ask  whether  any  condition  of  finality  will 
satisfy  the  anxious  minds  that  are  now  assembled.  Ask 
whether  your  Almighty  Father  has  bestowed  upon  you  the 
thousand  rainbow  hues  of  different  minds,  different  intellects, 
different  faculties,  different  energies,  different  propensities, 
only  to  pass  away  one  dull,  vast  routine  of  finality  ? What 
you  are  fit  for,  what  you  love  best,  where  your  attractions 
are  centred  — these  will  determine  the  state  of  your  here- 
after ; these  will  be  a part  of  the  Hades  in  which  you  will 
dwell. 

There  is  another  question  which  we  propose  to  consider  — 
a question  often  put,  prompted  by  the  great  variety  of  opin- 
ions that  are  constantly  offered  at  the  spirit  circle.  Where 
is  this  Hades  ? Where  this  mid-region  of  the  dead  ? For 
what  object,  and  by  what  means  can  they  come  to  earth  ? 
Some  tell  you  one  story,  and  some  another.  In  view  of  the 
contrariety  of  opinions  that  prevail  upon  this  point,  let  us 
offer  you  one  illustration ; and  we  will  find  that  the  cause  is 
one,  though  the  effects  are  many.  Twelve  men  depart  for  a 
distant  land,  and  when  they  return,  you  receive  the  report  of 
each.  But  what  a strange  diversity  of  opinion  presents 
itself!  The  poet  tells  you  of  nothing  but  radiant  skies  and 


134 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


glorious  landscapes ; the  trader  only  speaks  to  you  of  the 
affairs  of  a trading  community ; he  knows  not  of  skies  and 
landscapes,  bubbling  streams  and  murmuring  brooks.  So  the 
artist,  the  painter,  the  musician,  the  trader,  the  saint,  and  the 
man  of  sin,  all  tell  you  of  that  which  their  own  peculiar  pro- 
pensities induced  them  to  observe.  The  saint  will  tell  you 
of  the  churches,  and  the  sinner  wall  tell  you  of  the  haunts  of 
vice  ; until  at  last  you  can  find  not  one  of  the  twelve  who  will 
agree  with  the  rest,  unless  you  step  behind  the  effects  to  the 
cause,  and  find  that  every  mind  represents  only  that  which 
the  mind  is  capable  of  comprehending.  You  complain  when 
you  sit  at  the  spirit  circle,  that  the  spirits  are  not  agreed  as 
to  whether  the  domestic  favorites,  the  fluttering  bird  and  the 
faithful  hound,  are  there.  One  tells  you  that  he  sees  neither ; 
he  beholds  only  supernal  seas,  too  glorious  to  translate  into 
human  language.  Another  tells  you  of  houses,  and  lands, 
and  animals,  and  every  favorite  with  which  you  rejoice  on 
earth.  One  tells  you  of  sins,  of  vices  and  debauchery  ; and 
another  tells  you  of  those  radiant  homes,  so  blissful  that  your 
very  soul  goes  forth  in  aspiration  for  the  bright  morning  land. 
How  shall  you  reconcile  these  contrarieties  ? Simply  by  re- 
ferring them  to  the  capacities  which  interpret  them  to  the 
spirit  land.  If  God  is  not  only  a Father,  but  a wise  Father, 
he  has  placed  you  here  in  the  nursery  of  souls,  in  the  rudi- 
mental  school-house  of  being,  to  take  you  out  of  it  in  good 
time,  and  place  you  in  a condition  for  which  you  are  not  yet 
adapted.  He  has  not  stored  up  your  minds  with  gifts  and 
faculties  and  energies,  merely  to  be  wasted  on  a few  fleeting 
moments  of  life,  and  then  to  be  quenched  forever.  Every 
faculty  will  find  its  elaboration  in  spirit  land.  Oh ! there 
are  glorious  temples  of  music,  and  poetry,  and  painting,  and 
science ; there  are  harps  formed  of  the  heart-strings  of  hu- 
manity, on  which  the  bright  fingers  of  the  immortals  play, 
until  the  music  echoes  back  into  every  human  soul,  making 
them  all  harmonious.  There  arc  schools  of  design,  of  archi- 
tecture, of  buildings,  of  machines,  of  new  inventions,  of  the 
beneficent  and  useful  arts,  the  truths  of  which,  time  after 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


135 


time,  the  poet,  painter,  artist,  or  musician,  gathers  up  in  his 
lonely  study,  as  it  comes  filtered  down  through  angel  hands, 
until  at  last  the  cup  is  let  down  to  the  very  lips  of  the  mortal 
drinker,  and  in  his  own  spirit  he  first  conceives  and  shapes, 
and  then  elaborates  and  bodies  it  forth  into  matter.  Where 
do  these  thoughts  come  from,  if  the  types  are  not  all  in  the 
eternal  mind  ? If  the  great  archetypes  are  not  there,  then 
men  and  spirits  are  creators,  and  we  have  yet  to  discover 
this  fact.  Oh ! somewhere,  everywhere,  in  the  divine  mind 
are  all  the  possibilities  of  all  things,  and  it  only  remains  for 
the  exalted  spirit  to  elevate  man  into  the  wisdom  sphere  to 
drink  of  this  fountain  of  inspiration,  and  bring  it  down,  clear 
and  pure,  to  the  sons  of  earth.  Aye,  every  fragment  of  sci- 
ence that  here  you  learn,  is  one  of  the  steps  on  which  you 
shall  ascend  to  the  great  culmination  of  perfected  sciences  in 
the  better  life ; and  every  kindly  affection  that  you  here 
cherish,  shall  find  its  paradise  and  its  realization  in  the  glori- 
ous spheres  of  harmony  where  all  is  love.  Oh  ! they  tell  you 
of  a cold  and  cheerless  heaven,  where  the  saints  in  bliss  can 
look  down  and  enjoy  the  misery  of  those  they  have  left  be- 
hind. Tell  it  not  to  fathers,  speak  not  of  it  to  mothers. 
Ask  if  there  is  any  paradise  for  them  so  precious  as  the  little, 
low-roofed  cabin,  the  humble  hut,  the  poor,  shabby  room, 
where,  in  its  cradle,  the  little  one  lies  with  its  calm  slumbers, 
watched  over  by  the  tender,  patient,  maternal  eye,  from  long, 
weary  night  until  morning,  and  from  weary  morning  until 
night  again,  never  satisfied  until  the  little  helpless  being  can 
run  alone.  Oh,  this  mother’s  love ! this  father’s  care ! the 
one  great  redeeming  point  in  the  worst  of  human  nature. 
Crush  this  out,  and  what  do  you  leave  to  go  to  heaven  ? 
What  do  you  leave  to  go  to  the  better  land  with  ? All  this 
must  find  its  extension  and  elaboration  in  the  better  land. 
Aye,  and  there  are  systems  of  commerce  there,  too.  There 
is  a great  bank  in  spirit  land,  in  which  every  creature  may 
invest ; a bank,  too,  which  ever  honors  its  drafts.  Not  one 
is  ever  presented  there,  that  does  not  receive  its  due  with 
interest ; the  only  coin  that  is  paid  out,  is  the  interest  upon 


136 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OP  THE  DEAD. 


kindness ; the  only  wealth  that  is  there  dispensed,  is  the 
wealth  which  the  soul  of  love  has  laid  up  in  the  storehouse 
of  good  deeds.  And  there  is  poverty  in  spirit  land — there 
is  beggary  there,  starvation  and  want,  and,  alas ! the  want  is 
the  want  of  human  love,  and  the  beggary  is  for  those  attri- 
butes of  kindness  which  man  has  failed  to  plant  in  kind  deeds 
to  his  neighbor.  Oh  ! there  are  misers  in  spirit  land.  There 
are  men  of  yellow  souls,  that  have  hedged  themselves  up 
within  a wall  of  gold,  and  they  find  that  this  gold  grows  into 
prison  bars  in  spirit  land.  There  are  dungeons  there,  self- 
made  dungeons,  in  which  man  has  incarcerated  himself  by 
his  own  narrow,  selfish  purposes ; self  is  the  chain,  and  self 
is  the  prison  bar,  and  the  love  of  self,  with  all  its  columns, 
branching  out  into  sensuality,  avarice,  or  prodigality,  — these 
are  the  cold  and  the  darkness  — these  the  worms  that  cannot 
die  — these  the  fires  that  are  not  quenched.  Such  are  the 
different  conditions  of  spirit  land,  and  over  all,  from  the  low- 
est to  the  highest,  rides  the  triumphant  car  of  progress, 
sounds  the  angel  trumpet,  Light,  more  light ; and  above  all 
is  the  cry  of  echoing  worlds,  Come  up  higher,  come  up 
higher. 

This  is  the  central  doctrine  of  modern  Spiritualism.  This 
is  the  central  doctrine  of  the  One  of  Nazareth.  This  is  the 
signification  of  the  teaching  of  the  ancient  Hades.  This  is 
the  meaning  of  those  various  doctrines  and  contrarieties 
which  the  ancients  entertained,  and  which,  by  analogy,  they 
attempted  to  represent  by  the  transmigration  of  souls  ; it  is 
the  soul’s  passage  from  one  state  to  another.  There  is  a 
hiatus  occurring  in  the  world’s  history  in  the  last  fifteen 
hundred  years.  To  restore  once  again  the  revelation  of  the 
Most  High;  to  bring  down  to  earth  the  true  knowledge  which 
will  promote  and  excite  good  deeds,  noble  acts,  kind  feelings 
and  high  thoughts  among  you ; to  lead  you  to  work  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  having  in  view  throughout  life  this 
mid-region,  this  spirit  land,  where  each  one’s  sphere  is 
determined  by  his  past  acts  and  deeds;  — this  is  the  true 
mission  of  modern  Spiritualism.  It  is  not  to  do  the  work  for 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


137 


you,  for  none  can  practice  for  you  but  yourselves.  Spirits 
are  not  creators,  and  can  neither  make  you  good  or  bad. 
They  cannot  put  into  your'  hand  or  heart  what  is  not  there  ; 
they  can  only  externalize  that  which  exists,  before  unseen, 
and  they  offer  you  the  very  best  prompting  to  a better,  a 
truer,  and  a more  harmonious  life,  by  opening  the  gates  and 
showing  where  dwell  the  Dead. 

[The  speaker  here  paused  a few  moments,  and  then 
proceeded.] 

During  the  last  three  years  many  millions  of  human  ears 
have  listened  to  the  tones  of  your  speaker’s  voice.  God 
alone  can  decide  whether  those  tones  have  urged  human 
souls  deeper  down  in  perdition,  or  whether  they  have  raised 
them  up.  They  have  dried  the  tears  from  many,  many  eyes, 
bound  up  the  wounds  of  many  a bleeding  heart ; and  all  the 
light  and  all  the  knowledge,  or  all  the  evil  and  darkness,  of 
which  these  lips  have  been  the  fountain,  have  proceeded  from 
the  sound  of  those  raps. 

[Here  several  raps  were  distinctly  audible  to  every  one  in 
the  hall.] 

Four  years  ago  the  tones  of  the  immortals  now  sounding 
in  your  ears,  broke  for  the  first  time  on  the  astonished  ears 
of  a stranger  in  your  land.  Every  art,  every  science,  was 
ransacked,  to  find  out  their  meaning,  and  still  they  pointed 
to  the  living  dead  ; still  they  sounded  from  Hades ; still  they 
spoke  the  language  of  suffering  souls  — some  in  bitter  cold 
and  miserable  darkness,  crying  out  for  this  human  hand  to 
help  them ; some  in  rejoicing  and  triumph ; some  in  sweet 
bowers,  and  some  in  blissful  homes ; some  in  noble  schools 
of  science  ; some  from  master  minds,  long,  long  passed  away, 
but  still  occupied  in  the  beneficent  task  of  elevating  earth’s 
millions  to  their  own  standpoint.  That  capacity  of  light 
and  darkness,  good  and  evil,  the  immortals  came  and  sounded 
through  these  light  taps. 

Oh,  friends ! you  must  forgive  the  egotism  of  these  remarks ; 
they  come  to  you  from  the  welling  soul  of  that  love  which 
desires  that  every  human  creature  should  be  as  happy  as  the 


188 


HADES,  THE  LAND  OF  THE  DEAD. 


true  spiritualist  is  happy.  Cold  and  hungry,  suffering  from 
loss  and  adversity,  the  world’s  scorn  and  the  world’s  anger, 
you  may  be ; but  the  world  die  for  you,  and  it  may  point  in  vain 
when  your  risen  spirit  is  in  that  brighter  part  of  Hades  to 
which  it  has  ascended,  from  the  knowledge  of  where  it  was 
going,  and  how  it  would  best  obtain  the  highest  place  in  the 
kingdom  by  good  works  and  kind  deeds. 

Oh  ! bless  the  precious  raps. 

[Here  the  rapping  previously  alluded  to,  was  repeated.] 

Long  may  they  sound  on  earth,  to  warn  pilgrims  of  those 
dark  and  fatal  systems  which  would  drag  them  down  to  the 
cold,  inanimate  and  dead  doctrines,  and  the  dread,  sense- 
less fears  from  which  so  many  have  revolted,  to  the  still 
colder  atheism  that  grows  out  of  disgust  for  systems  not 
taught  by  Jesus,  nor  justified  in  nature.  We  commend  these 
sounds  to  you  ; and  until  ye  have  fully  discovered  what  they 
are,  until  ye  are  able,  from  knowledge,  to  pronounce  upon 
them,  low  as  they  may  sound,  and  insignificant  as  they  may 
seem,  they  are  the  trump  that  is  calling  the  nations  of  the 
earth  to  its  great  millenium. 


APPENDIX 


OUTLINE  OF  A PLAN 

FOR  A 

SELF-SUSTAINING  INSTITUTION 

FOE 

HOMELESS  AND  OUTCAST  FEMALES, 

IN  WHICH  THEY  CAN  BE  EMPLOYED  AND  INSTRUCTED  IN  A 

PROGRESSIVE  SYSTEM  OP  HORTICULTURE. 


BY  EMMA  HARDINGE. 


This  Institution  is  designed  for  the  benefit  of  females,  who,  by  mis- 
fortune or  loss  of  character,  are  without  homes,  friends,  protection,  or 
means  of  sustenance.  The  design  contemplated  is  a provision  for  the 
present  needs  and  future  usefulness  of  the  utterly  destitute,  irrespective 
of  character  or  station,  in  the  hope  of  rescuing  from  temptation  or 
present  sin,  all  who  seem  compelled  to  starve,  or  resort  to  the  streets 
for  bread. 

THE  SPECIAL  DESIGNS  ARE, 

First , To  restore  self-respect  and  a place  in  life  to  the  fallen,  a home 
to  the  destitute,  employment  and  an  available  means  of  subsistence 
the  industrious. 

Secondly , To  remove  friendless  or  outcast  women  from  the  tempta- 
tion to  sin  for  bread,  until  they  can  honorably  provide  for  themselves ; 
and,  while  it  is  claimed,  some  special  effort  should  be  made  in  behalf 
of  the  utterly  fallen  sisters  of  humanity,  who  have  too  long  been  passed 
by,  or  devoted  to  penitential  or  impracticable  systems  of  reform,  leaving 
them  with  the  stamp  of  that  degradation  which  precludes  their  re-en- 
trance into  the  arena  of  honest  labor ; it  is  by  no  means  proposed  to 
render  vice  a necessary  qualification  for  admission — prevention  and 
timely  succor,  no  less  than  cure,  being  the  aim  proposed. 


140 


APPENDIX 


Thirdly , In  order  to  remove  them  from  the  struggle  of  ordinary 
competition,  and  qualify  them  with  a specialty  for  superior  merit,  it  is 
proposed  to  instruct  them  in  the  culture  of  flowers,  fruits,  and  vegeta- 
bles, upon  the  most  matured  scientific  knowledge  of  the  subject,  with 
the  design  of  aiding  in  sustaining  the  Institution  by  the  sale  of  its 
products,  and  advancing  the  character  of  its  members  to  such  superior 
use  and  excellence,  as  will  create  a respectful  demand  for  their  services. 

DISPOSITION  OF  TIME,  AND  MODE  OF  INSTRUCTION. 

. It  is  proposed  to  cultivate  the  lands  of  the  Institution  as  exclusively 
as  possible  by  the  industry  of  its  members ; to  hire  qualified  instructors 
and  assistants  during  the  first  period  of  organization,  until  some  members 
shall  have  advanced  to  the  capacity  of  teachers ; to  give  instruction  in 
the  theory  and  the  practice  of  horticulture  ; allot  to  each  of  the  mem- 
bers, in  turn,  exercises  in  the  routine  of  domestic  duties,  under  a quali- 
fied matron  ; to  set  apart  stated  hours  each  day  for  educational  improve- 
ment, labor,  repose,  recreation,  and  meditation ; to  consult  the  best 
systems  of  horticulture,  chemistry,  and  kindred  sciences,  with  a .view 
of  developing  yet  undiscovered  resources  in  the  art,  and  advancing 
horticulture  to  a degree  of  perfection  not  yet  attained  ; to  stimulate 
moral,  intellectual  and  physical  effort  by  graduated  degrees,  and  such 
rewards  for  superior  excellence  in  the  members,  as  the  funds  of  the 
Institute  will  allow ; and  to  hold  in  prospective  the  formation  of  a 
horticultural  school  for  females,  not  connected  with  the  Institution. 

DISCIPLINE. 

j Proposed,  That  the  only  discipline  used  shall  be  order,  cleanliness, 
temperance,  industry,  and  strict  abstinence  from  stimulating  drinks,  and 
harsh  language ; the  encouragement,  by  precept  and  example,  of  intel 
lectual  emulation,  and  a universal  spirit  of  sisterly  equality,  mutual 
forbearance  and  charity  ; that  the  aim  of  every  member  shall  be  to  live 
only  for  a progressive  future  ; that  each  day  shall  begin  and  end  with 
music  and  reading  of  an  elevating  character,  and  that  with  every  setting 
sun,  each  member  shall  be  exhorted  to  forget  and  forgive  each  other  the 
trespasses  of  the  day,  making  present  duties  and  future  aims  the  only 
theme  of  conversation. 

LOCALITY,  GROUNDS,  BUILDINGS,  ETC. 

Proposed , To  purchase  a suitable  piece  of  ground  in  such  a locality 
as  may  hereafter  bo  determined ; to  erect  thereon  a building  capable  of 
accommodating  one  hundred  persons,  with  a view  to  provide  for  increase 
of  members  with  increaso  of  funds ; to  carry  on  horticulture  in  all  its 


APPENDIX. 


141 


branches,  both  for  the  instruction  and  maintenance  of  its  members,  and 
to  select  the  locality  in  the  neighborhood  of  a large  town  and  railway, 
with  a view  of  facilitating  a ready  sale  for  produce. 

MODE  OF  RAISING  FUNDS,  ETC. 

It  is  proposed  to  raise  the  funds  necessary  for  the  purchase  of  ground, 
erection  of  buildings,  laying  in  of  stock,  and  support  of  the  Institution, 
for  the  first,  necessarily  unproductive  year  or  years,  by  donations,  sub- 
scriptions, and  collections,  through  individuals,  societies,  or  public  meet- 
ings convened  for  that  purpose,  commencing  the  work  of  organization, 
building,  etc.,  as  soon  as  a sufficient  sum  is  collected  to  justify  action. 

IMMEDIATE  ACTION. 

All  humanitary  persons  are  hereby  solicited  to  forward  such  sums 
as  they  can  contribute  towards  this  object,  to  the  Trustees,  who  will 
acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  same.  The  attention  of  clergymen  is 
especially  requested  to  this  movement,  and  it  is  confidently  hoped  they 
will,  by  appeals  to  their  congregations,  and  personal  influence,  aid  this 
great  humanitary  work.  Builders,  horticulturists,  financiers,  etc.,  are 
solicited  to  aid  it  by  suggestion  and  advice ; and  every  true-hearted 
man  and  woman  is  reminded  that  this  is  the  world’s  movement,  insti- 
tuted for  the  relief  of  the  most  hapless  and  helpless  of  its  ranks ; pro- 
posing not  only  progressive  action  in  a universally  useful  science,  but 
to  rescue  many  a fair  and  gifted  victim  from  that  despair  and  heart- 
agony  which  too  often  leads  to  starvation,  a life  of  degradation,  or  an 
untimely  death.  The  design  contemplates  no  limit  within  the  bounds 
of  party,  place,  section  or  sect,  and  therefore  claims  from  all  humanity 
a humanitarian  response. 

The  authoress  of  this  plan  proposes,  as  her  share  of  the  work,  To 
qualify  herself  to  become  a teacher  and  co-worker  with  the  members  of 
the  Institution  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  horticulture ; and  in  her 
present  occupation  as  a public  lecturer,  to  solicit  subscriptions,  and 
give  her  services  as  a lecturer  in  every  town  she  yisits,  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  funds  ; handing  over  these  sums  to  the  Trustees  ; in  a word, 
devoting  time,  talents  and  energies,  to  the  preliminary  work,  and  hold- 
ing herself  ready,  at  such  time  as  the  organization  shall  be  completed, 
to  become  the  strengthener  and  friend  of  the  desolate  ones  for  whom 
this  refuge  is  designed.  She  proposes  to  bring  an  untarnished  name, 
an  example  of  resolute  industry,  purity  of  life,  and  singleness  of  pur- 
pose, to  this  work,  and  by  standing  amongst  the  fearful  and  falling,  with 
outstretched  arms,  strong  purposes,  and  loving  heart,  she  hopes  to 


142 


APPENDIX 


restore  self-respect  to  the  fallen,  courage  to  the  despairing,  and  faith  in 
a noble  and  progressing  future  to  all. 

It  is  resolved  to  appoint  Trustees  in  the  different  cities  of  the  Union, 
when  a sufficient  interest  is  felt  to  aid  this  work ; such  Trustees  to  hold 
the  funds  collected,  receive  subscriptions  and  donations,  and  aid  the 
movement  in  every  practical  way,  until  there  shall  be  a sufficient  amount 
collected  to  commence  the  enterprise,  when  the  authoress  of  this  plan 
will  call  in  those  sums,  and  by  the  aid  of  suitable  persons  organized 
into  a general  committee  of  action,  enter  upon  the  purchase  of  lands, 
buildings,  etc. 

It  is  resolved  that  the  members  of  the  General  Committee  shall  con- 
sist of  donors  of  $100,  and  upwards  ; also,  that  the  donation  of  $1,000 
and  upwards,  shall  constitute  the  right  of  Direction,  within  limits  to  be 
hereafter  decided  on.  Temporary  Direction  vested  in  the  hands  of 
the  Trustees  for  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  who  have  contributed  and 
retain  the  sum  of  $500. 

Trustees  for  Philadelphia  — Louis  Belrose,  807  Chestnut  street; 
Isaac  Khen,  917  Sansom  street;  Henry  T.  Child,  M.D.,  510  Arch 
street. 

Trustees  for  Providence — Hon.  John  M Bartlett,  Secretary  of 
State  for  K.  I.,  Secretary’s  Office,  Court  House ; Mrs.  Wm.  Chase, 
Pleasant  Valley ; T.  Searle,  Esq.,  Ins.  Agent,  7 Weybosset  street. 

Trustees  for  Portland — J.  C.  Woodman,  Esq.  ; R.  I.  Robison  ; 
M.  A.  Blanchard  ; N.  A.  Foster. 

Trustees  for  Chicago  — Russel  Green  ; Thomas  Richmond  ; 
John  Gage. 

Trustees  for  Boston,  New  York,  and  other  cities,  will  be  appointed 
from  time  to  time. 


Suggestions,  Statistics,  Counsel,  Donations,  or  aid  in  any  direction, 
to  be  sent  in,  either  to  the  Trustees,  as  above,  or  to 

EMMA  IIARDINGE, 

8 Fourth  Avenue , New  York. 

All  donations  will  bo  acknowledged  in  the  local  papers,  if  desired. 


APPENDIX . 


143 


MISS  ADA  L.  HOYT’S  CIRCLES, 

FOR 

SPIRIT  MANIFESTATIONS, 

AND 

COMMUNICATIONS  WITH  DEPARTED  FRIENDS. 


Miss  Hoyt,  one  of  the  best  test  Mediums  in  the  United  States,  is 
at  present  located  in  Chicago,  111.,  where  all  persons  who  are  interested 
in  investigating  these  phenomena  of  holding  intercourse  with  their  friends 
and  relatives,  who  have  departed  this  life,  can  now  have  an  opportunity 
to  test  the  merits  of  conversing  with  the  “ dead.” 

Miss  Hoyt  has  given  public  Seances  at  Kingsbury  Hall,  since  her 
arrival  in  this  city.  Hon.  John  Wentworth,  the  Mayor  of  Chicago, 
presided  over  one  of  the  meetings  ; and  he  held  a lengthy  conversation 
with  various  friends,  and  several  of  the  ex-Mayors,  who  are  in  the 
spirit  land.  She  wrote  or  rapped  out  responses  to  questions  that  were 
propounded  to  the  spirits,  by  the  audience,  with  astonishing  rapidity 
and  correctness.  The  audience  acknowledged  that  communicating 
with  those  who  have  left  the  material  form,  is  a fixed  fact. 

Our  spirit  friends  are  ever  guarding  and  guiding  us  through  this 
terrestrial  life ; and  are  endeavoring  to  impress  upon  our  minds,  that 
there  is  a happier  and  a better  life  beyond  the  grave. 

[Miss  Ada  L.  Hoyt  will  give  private  sittings  every  day,  (Sundays 
excepted,)  from  9 A.  M.  to  6 P.  M.,  at  No.  24  Desplaines  street, 
(a  few  doors  south  of  Randolph,)  Chicago,  111.] 


BANNER  OF  LIGHT ; A Weekly  Journal  of  General  Intelligence 
and  Enterprise  — a leading  Organ  of  the  Spiritualists,  containing 
Reports  of  Lectures,  etc.  Conducted  by  Messrs.  Berry,  Colby  & 
Co.,  No.  3J  Brattle  street,  Boston,  Mass. 

HERALD  OF  PROGRESS ; A Weekly  Journal , devoted  to  the 
Discovery  and  Application  of  Truth. 

Seize  upon  Truth,  wherever  found, 

On  Christian  or  on  Heathen  ground. 

Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  Editor,  No.  274  Canal  street,  N.  Y. 

SPIRITUAL  CLARION  ; A Journal  of  Distinctive,  Harmonic, 
and  Eclectic  Spiritualism.  Uriah  Clark,  Editor,  Auburn, 

N.  Y. 


144 


APPENDIX . 


SPIRITUAL  TRUTHS. 


OUTSIDE  AND  INSIDE  RELIGION. 

Nothing  is  heartily  believed  that  is  said  by  others,  unless  it  find  a response 
from  the  soul-consciousness  of  the  hearer. 

A truth  that  relates  to  spiritual  things  can  never  be  driven  into  a man  from 
without.  A capacity  is  developed  in  man  for  spiritual  truths,  or,  what  seems 
almost  the  same  thing,  truth  is  developed  within  and  comes  out  of  a man,  as  a 
rosebud  unfolds  its  leaves  and  fragrance  from  within,  outward.  Unseen  spir- 
itual streams  of  power  flow  into  the  soul,  and  the  soul,  from  its  own  God-given 
nature,  produces  its  own  truths,  as  the  bee  produces  honey  by  its  own  God- 
given  nature. 

No  spiritual  truth  can  be  forced  upon  the  soul  by  external  teachings,  no  more 
than  the  fragrance  of  another  flower  can  be  forced  into  a rose,  and  substituted 
for  its  own  peculiar  fragrance. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  spiritual  culture  coming  from  the  teachings  of 
another. 

A soul  conviction  is  the  product  of  natural  growth.  A soul  conviction  is  a 
soul  truth  — is  a part  of  the  soul.  We  hear  a thought  uttered  by  another;  our 
souls  respond,  “ How  beautiful,  how  true  is  that  thought ! ” The  capacity  for 
that  truth,  and  more,  that  truth  itself,  is  already  developed  in  our  souls  ; and  it 
may  be  that,  by  some  undiscovered  law,  our  souls  have  helped  produce  its  utter- 
ance in  the  speaker.  Other  souls,  who  hear  the  same  thought,  respond  to  its 
utterance,  “IIow  silly,  how  false!”  Those  other  souls  have  no  capacity  de- 
veloped for  that  truth  ; they  have  not  that  truth  developed  yet. 

No  man  ever  did,  or  ever  can,  interiorly  accept  religion  from  another  man. 
Yet  this  may  be,  and  is,  outwardly  done,  and  such  acceptance  is  changeable 
and  fleeting,  like  other  external  things. 

A creed  may  be  offered  to  me  for  acceptance,  and  I may  outwardly  accept 
it ; but  my  soul  does  not  accept  it  unless  it  is  developed  out  of  my  soul ; then 
its  external  presentation  would  be  useless.  Thus,  to  the  soul  of  man,  to  that 
property  of  a man  which  is  immortal,  a creed,  a belief,  a doctrine,  a religion, 
taught  by  another,  is  nothing  worth.  All  religions,  outwardly  presented,  out- 
wardly taught,  belong  to  outward  things,  not  to  the  soul.  All  religions  of  this 
kind  are  good  for  material  excellence,  but  for  the  soul  are  worthless.  Such  are 
religions  of  which  men  take  cognizance. 

All  outward  visible  religions,  all  religions  taught  from  books,  from  the  pulpit, 
from  the  lips  and  pens  of  men  and  women,  add  nothing  to  the  advancement  of 
the  soul  heavenward,  but  tend  to  enhance  the  glory  of  material  things.  This 
seems  right ; for  the  soul  grows  just  as  fast  and  no  faster,  while  we  polish  mat- 
ter, as  it  does  while  we  disintegrate,  break  up  and  destroy  forms  of  material 
beauty.  Our  soul-desires,  our  heart-longings,  are  just  the  same,  let  our  hands 
do  what  they  will,  let  our  semblance  be  what  it  will,  let  our  outward  garments 
of  religion  be  white,  black,  or  any  tinge  or  color,  as  they  may  chance  to  be. 

Our  soul-desires  cannot  be  altered  by  external  religion,  but,  in  defiance  of  any 
and  all  outward  influences,  make  perpetually  one  eternal  longing  for  happiness. 
This  is  religion  — religion  over  which  this  outward  world  can  have  no  influence. 
These  desires  arc  as  much  beyond  our  powers  of  control  as  was  our  birth  — as 
is  our  immortality.  They  are  the  spontaneous  productions  of  nature.  Every 
desire  is  right,  good,  beautiful,  true,  to  the  soul  out  of  which  it  proceeds.  And 
every  truth,  us  it  becomes  a part  of  the  soul’s  intelligence,  is  developed  out  of 


APPENDIX. 


145 


the  soul  itself,  in  which  is  sown  the  seeds  of  infinite  knowledge,  to  germinate, 
grow,  and  unfold  in  fragrance  and  beauty,  forever  and  forever. 

Seeds  always  germinate  in  darkness.  So  it  is  of  the  truths  which  germinate 
in  the  soul.  In  his  own  bosom  man  finds  his  God,  immediate ; his  heaven  or 
his  hell,  located. 

The  sun  sometimes  looks  red,  while  it  is  the  rising  vapors  of  the  earth  that 
tinge  its  pure  rays.  The  sun  goes  down  and  the  night  comes  — it  is  the  earth’s 
own  shadow  that  makes  the  darkness.  The  sun  sends  off  its  generous  rays  the 
same  in  our  night  time  as  it  does  in  our  day  time.  It  is  the  earth  itself,  held 
in  nature’s  hand,  that  makes  the  sun  look  red,  and  white,  and  black. 

So  it  is  with  the  soul  of  man  — its  bloody  vapors  make  a cloud  through 
which  he  sees  a bloody  God  — a God  of  vengeance.  The  soul  has  revolutions; 
it.  has  day  and  night.  In  the  day  time  God  is  bright  and  beautiful ; light  is  re- 
flected from  every  object,  for  everywhere  his  rays  of  love  are  seen  to  fall.  The 
night  of  the  soul  follows  the  day  of  the  soul.  In  its  revolution  it  turns  its 
back  to  God,  and  in  the  shadow  of  itself  it  sees  no  God ; God  is  darkness ; 
God  is  black.  It  is  in  this  natural  darkness  of  the  soul  that  a religion  for  its 
own  salvation  is  conjured  up.  This  is  right.  Love,  which  simply  is  desire,  acts 
through  all  life,  lives  to  death,  and  through  death,  and  is  then  immortal.  Love 
is  desire  — desire  is  religion,  and  there  is  not,  there  -never  was,  a desire  of  a hu- 
man soul  that  to  itself,  and  in  itself,  was  not  pure  love.  Through  matter,  and 
the  smoke  and  fumes  of  matter,  these  loves  are  often  clouded,  and  appear  im- 
pure to  sensuous  vision  — to  limited  perception.  From  the  great  source  of  Love 
uncounted  streams  flow  out  to  human  hearts  in  channels  made  by  a Parent’s 
impartial  hand  to  all  his  own  children.  And  when  we  shall  see  this  spiritual 
influx,  we  shall  see  God’s  hand  in  every  stream  of  love  that  flows  to  every 
human  heart.  Then  we  shall  cease  to  say  that  the  stream  of  God’s  love  that 
flows  to  one  heart  is  better  than  the  stream  of  God’s  love  that  flows  to  another 
heart;  that  one  religion  is  better  than  another  religion.  Religion  is  human 
desire,  and  desire  is  love,  and  love  is  beyond  the  accidents  of  time,  because  it 
is  immortal  — and  every  love,  in  time,  or  after  time,  to  our  perception, 

Will  be  as  pure  and  white 

As  beams  of  shining  light. 

From  the  filth  of  refuse  matter,  or  from  the  cleanest  things  of  earth,  it  finally 
rises  up  to  God,  and  mingles  with  the  radiant  beauties  of  celestial  worlds. — 
A.  B.  Child. 


THE  SOUL’S  AUTHORITY. 

Every  individual  must  make  his  own  soul  the  standard  of  authority  in 
determining  what  is  true  or  false  in  principle,  and  right  or  wrong  in  action.  If 
we  aim  to  do  right,  if  our  motives  are  approved  by  the  highest  convictions  of 
the  soul,  although  we  may  err  in  judgment  and  run  into  trouble,  we  shall 
never  fall  under  self-condemnation.  The  God  within  us  shall  bring  us  into 
judgment,  and  if  we  stand  acquitted  before  that  inward  tribunal,  no  other 
“judgment  seat”  shall  have  power  over  the  happiness  and  destiny  of  the  soul. 
— Leo  Miller. 


LIVING  INSPIRATIONS. 

If  the  story  of  Prometheus  was  once  a fable,  we  are  sure  that  in  an  import- 
ant sense  it  is  fabulous  no  longer.  Invisible  hands  have  rekindled  immortal 
fires  on  our  own  altars,  to  warm  the  great  heart,  and  to  light  up  the  face  of 
Humanity.  The  relations  of  great  thoughts  and  noble  deeds  to  the  realms 
of  Spiritual  causation  are  daily  becoming  more  perceptible.  Through  all  the 
inherent  forces  and  essential  laws  of  the  celestial,  spiritual  and  natural  worlds, 
a Divine  energy  is  infused,  and  Powers  unseen  speak  in  the  inspired  thoughts 
of  living  men,  who  sit  like  stars  at  the  celestial  gates. — S.  B.  Brittan. 

10 


146 


APPENDIX. 


A WORD  ABOUT  THE  DEVIL. 

“ Is  there  anything  unreasonable  in  the  hypothesis  that  Evil  came  from  the 
Devil ? Does  such  a supposition  detract  from  the  majesty  and  goodness  of 
God 

Answer  : These  diabolical  and  theological  questions  may  he,  as  they  have 
been,  met  in  the  following  style : If  evil  eame  from  the  devil,  then  the  devil,  in 
infusing  evil  into  God’s  creature,  acted  either  with  God’s  consent  or  without  it. 
If  he  acted  with  it,  then  of  course  God  saw  that  it  would  not  injure  the  creature, 
since  He  had  methods  of  turning  it  all  to  the  creature’s  superior  profit,  and  so 
proving  the  devil  a fool  for  his  pains.  If  he  acted  without  God’s  consent,  then 
of  course  you  give  the  devil  not  only  a superior  power  to  God,  but  a superior 
power  over  God’s  own  work,  or  in  the  sphere  of  God’s  own  activity.  That  is 
to  say,  you  make  the  absolute  creature  of  infinite  Good  confess  himself  the  off- 
spring of  a deeper  paternity  — the  paternity  of  infinite  evil. — A.  J.  Davis. 


Be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with  good.  Speak  the  truth  in 
love.  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one 
towards  another.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, — and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  sjsen, 
how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen. — New  Testament. 


RE-UNION  OP  FRIENDS. 

Shall  we  know  our  friends  again  ? For  my  own  part,  I cannot  doubt  it ; 
least  of  all,  when  I drop  a tear  over  their  recent  dust.  Death  does  not  separate 
them  from  us  here.  Can  life  in  Heaven  do  it  ? They  live  in  our  remembrance. 
Memory  rakes  in  the  ashes  of  the  dead,  and  the  virtues  of  the  departed  flame 
up  anew,  enlightening  the  dim  cold  walls  of  our  consciousness.  Much  of  our 
joy  is  social  here.  Must  it  not  be  so  there,  that  we  are  with  our  real  friends  ? 
Man  loves  to  think  it ; yet  to  trust  is  wiser  than  to  prophesy.  But  the  girl 
who  went  from  us,  a little  one,  may  be  as  parent  to  her  father  when  he  comes, 
and  the  man  who  left  us,  has  far  out-grown  our  dream  of  an  angel  when  we 
meet  again. — Theodore  Parker. 


SPIRITUALISM  AND  THE  BIBLE. 

The  spiritual  theory  and.spiritual  communications  maintain  all  the  great  and 
leading  doctrines  of  Christianity.  In  regard  to  the  Bible,  I cannot  better 
express  my  views  than  in  the  language  of  the  Rev.  Adin  Ballou  : “ Whatever 
of  divine  fundamental  principle,  absolute  truth,  and  essential  righteousness 
there  is  in  the  Bible,  in  the  popular  religion,  and  in  the  established  churches, 
will  stand.  It  cannot  be  done  away.  On  the  contrary,  it  will  be  corroborated 
and  fulfilled  by  spirit  manifestations.” — Hon.  N.  P.  Tallmage. 


) CLAIRVOYANT  EXAMINATIONS,. 

With  all  the  diagnostic  and  therapeutic  suggestions  required  by  patients, 
who  may  be  examined  at  any  distance,  by  forwarding  a lock  of  their  hair;  also 
a letter  written  by  the  patient  is  desirable. 

• Dr.  Hubbard  has  had  extraordinary  success  in  the  treatment  of  diseases  of 
patients  residing  hundreds  of  miles  distant. 

Come,  all  ye  that  are  afflicted,  and  give  him  a call ; rich,  poor,  great  and 
small.  Dr.  T.  HUBBARD, 

Office,  75  South  Clark  St.,  Chicago,  111. 


Residence,  118  Ilulstcd  St. 


APPENDIX. 


147 


CAN  SPIRITUALISM  STAND  ALONE? 

In  our  humble  opinion,  it  can.  We  would  assume  no  sectarian  importance, 
no  arbitrary  authority,  no  narrow-minded  intolerance,  no  personal  pride  or  con- 
ceit, no  unfraternal  spirit,  and  yet  we  would  insist  on  asserting  Spiritualism  as 
adequate  to  cover  the  bread  ground  of  all  human  needs,,  embracing  all  that  is 
good  and  true  in  the  past,  present  and  future ; the  life  of  all  progress,  reform, 
philosophy,  religion  and  revelation.  Its  foundation  is  laid  in  the  great  heart  of 
humanity  and  on  the  Biblical  facts  of  all  ages  and  nations,  while  its  dome  rises 
over  the  loftiest  empyrean  of  heaven,  forming  the  boundless  cathedral  at  whose 
altar  God  and  the  countless  myriads  of  the  eternal  world  are  evermore  minis- 
tering in  behalf  of  man.  With  this  view,  we  have  no  idea  of  compromising 
Spiritualism,  or  seeking  to  popularize  it  in  the  esteem  of  the.  opposing  world 
or  the  fashionable  church  and  clergy.  We  would  cordially  accept  every  senti- 
ment dropped  in  harmony  with  it,  but  we  are  not  disposed  to  count  every  man 
a Spiritualist  who  now  and  then  drops  a sentence  in  accordance  with  our  phi- 
losophy. Take  some  of  our  so-called,  star  preachers  who  are  on  fat  salaries  of 
thousands  of  dollars.  Why  fidget  ourselves • about  whether  they  are  Spiritual- 
ists or  not?  They  are  not,  and  they  take  every  favorable  opportunity  to  thrust 
at  us.  Spiritualism  can  live  without  these  men  or  their  church  oligarchies. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  putting  and  keeping  new  wine  in  old  bottles.  We 
repudiate  all  such  temporizing  policies.  Spiritualism  can  and  will  stand  on  its 
own  merits. — Spiritual  Register. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  DISPENSATION. 

This  new  dispensation  comes  to  supply  the  want  to  the  countless  thousands 
who  are  now  slumbering  in  indifference  or  toiling  in  infidelity ; to  convict  man 
of  his  immortality,  and  instruct  him  how  to  make  it  happy ; to  open  to  his 
view  the  great  doctrine  of  progression,  involving  an  eternity  of  action,  and  the 
supremacy  of  his  reason  over  the  besetting  propensities  of  his  material  nature, 
and  to  impress^upon  him  forever  to  love  God  and  his  neighbor. — Judge  Edmonds. 


MEDIUMS  DEFENDED. 

Mediums  are  our  fathers,  mothers,  sisters,  and  brothers,  neighbors  and 
friends  ; most  of  them  have  become  mediums  contrary  to  their  wish  and  will, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  themselves  and  friends,  the  phenomena  have 
appeared  wherever  they  chose,  and  have,  in  each  case,  commanded  attention 
and  enforced  conviction  of  their  spiritual  origin,  until  now,  in  the  compara- 
tively short(  space  of  ten  years,  Spiritualism  has  its  millions  of  mediums  and 
believers  scattered  over  the  wide  world,  in  every  nation  and  with  every  race  of 
people. 

There  has  been  no  collusion  between  mediums,  and  yet  there  is  a remarkable 
likeness  in  all  the  manifestations  wherever  they  occur,  with  Whatsoever  race  of 
people,  and  in  whatsoever  language,  and  through  the  several  phases  of  the 
manifestations.  Beside,  wheresoever  they  occur,  and  in  the  presence  of  per- 
sons who  do  not  believe  they  are  spiritually  produced,  the  phenomena  claim 
for  themselves  a spiritual  origin. 

We  submit  that  the  history  of  the  phenomena  fully  vindicates  the  integrity  of 
their  mediums,  and  the  hypothesis  of  deception  offered  in  solution  of  them  has 
ever  been  weak,  malevolent,  insufferably  unjust,  and  we  submit  that  it  should 
forever  be  abandoned. — Charles  Partridge. 


And  behold,  there  appeared  Moses  and  Elias  talking  with  him. — Matthew. 

And  I,  Daniel,  alone  saw  the  vision;  for  the  men  that  were  with  me  saw 
not,  but  a great  qualung  fell  upon  them,  so  that  they  fled  to  hide  themselves.— 
Daniel. 


148 


APPENDIX 


GREAT  MINDS. 

The  world  would  run  into  endless  routine ; but  the  perpetual  supply  of  new 
genius,  out  of  the  Cause  of  causes,  shocks  us  with  thrills  of  life.  The  chief 
day  of  Life  is  the  day  when  we  encounter  a mind  that  startles  us  by  its  origi- 
nality and  force.  Providence  sends,  from  time  to  time,  to  each  serious  mind, 
six  or  seven  teachers,  who  are  of  the  first  importance  to  him  in  that  which  they 
have  to  impart.  The  highest  of  these  benefit  not  so  much  by  what  they  have 
to  communicate,  as  by  their  spirit  and  modes  of  feeling  and  thought. — Ralph. 
Waldo  Emerson. 


Now,  concerning  spiritual  gifts,  brethren,  I would  not  have  you  ignorant. — 
Paul 

Believe  not  every  spirit,  but  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God. — John. 


SPIRITUAL  PLATFORM. 

The  spiritual  platform  is  broad  as  the  expanded  universe  and  the  unfolded 
heavens ; and  as  free,  as  unhampered  by  sectarianism,  as  are  the  ethereal  ele- 
ments that  fill  immensity.  We  have  no  church,  no  creeds,  no  dogmatisms,  to 
inculcate  or  maintain. 

Truth  is  omnipotent.  Therefore,  it  is  sure  that  every  sentiment,  system  of 
faith,  or  organization,  must  sooner  or  later  pass  through  the  trying  ordeal.  If 
it  be  sound,  and  founded  upon  immutable  principles,  it  will  forever  stand ; if 
false,  it  is  surely  destined  to  decay,  to  die  and  disappear. — lion.  S.  S.  Jones. 


How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  who  bringeth  glad 
tidings. — Isaiah. 

The  spirit  entered  intome  when  he  spake  unto  me,  and  set  me  upon  my  feet, 
that  I heard  him  that  spake  unto  me. — Ezekiel. 


VISION  OF  PROGRESS. 

I stand  beneath  the  beamings  of  a light  which  is  almost  darkness  because  of 
its  intensity,  and  see  from  out  that  blazing  sun  a ray  of  truth  and  power  that 
reaches  each  human  spirit  which  has  been,  or  which  is  to  be ; not  calling,  with 
audible  voice,  humanity  into  existence,  but  calling  by  the  very  exercise  of  its 
omnific  power,  the  human  race  into  being,  and  carrying  them  on,  with  eternal 
potency,  through  these  eternal  changes,  unfolding,  unfolding,  unfolding,  for- 
ever and  forever. — J.  S.  Loveland. 


The  agitation  of  thought  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom. — A.  J.  Davis. 
I go  away,  and  come  again  unto  you. — Jesus. 

I will  pour  out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh. — Joel. 


SPIRITUAL  INTERCOURSE. 

However  far  back  we  extend  our  researches  into  the  depths  of  antiquity,  we 
find  no  period  so  remote  that  this  method  of  communicating  with  invisible 
intelligence  does  not  seem  to  have  existed;  and  its  universal  prevalence  among 
the  ancients  seems  indicative  of  a necessity,  by  a law  of  human  nature,  that 
some  channel  of  supernal  wisdom  should  bo  constantly  open  to  man  through 
which  he  might  receive  instruction,  adapted  to  the  over-varying  circumstances 
and  exigencies  of  individual,  social,  national  life. — JLm.  Fishbough. 


APPENDIX. 


149 


THE  BOOK  OF  LIFE. 

The  Book  of  Life  is  composed  of  the  human  body  and  mind.  The  lids  are 
made  of  the  body,  the  folios  of  the  mental  faculties.  Upon  their  leaves  are 
written  the  many  deviations  of  the  individual  from  the  path  of  rectitude.  The 
recording  angel  is  the  Law  of  Right,  or  the  central  positive  principle  in  Nature, 
which  is  harmony.  The  mark  of  transgression  is  upon  the  brow.  The  indi- 
vidual— the  Book  of  Life  — is  immortal;  it  soon  passes  away  to  the  Spirit 
Land.  The  record  of  misdirection  appears  on  the  living  faculties  ; is  manifest 
in  their  deformity  and  decrepitude  — in  their  inability  immediately  to  advance 
with  the  higher  spirits  upon  the  eternal  highway  of  Love  and  Wisdom. — A.  J. 
Davis,  Author  of  “ Nature,”  “ Divine  Revelations,”  “ Great  Harmonia,”  etc. 


INDIVIDUALITY. 

Each  man’s  spirit  is  an  eternal  Fact  — and  to  it,  every  other  fact  in  the 
universe  must  eventually  come.  The  exact  point  of  time  when  each  person 
“ will  be  better,”  and  do  “ greater  works  ” than  earthy  ideal  now  prognosti- 
cates, will  remain  with  the  Law  of  progressive  development  to  determine.  But 
through  the  alembic  of  Reason  — through  the  receptive  vessels  of  man’s  con- 
sciousness— must  flow  every  Truth,  and  every  Fact,  also,  which  a principle 
can  possibly  embrace.  Each,  therefore,  should  have  his  own  Life  — his  own 
Liberty  — his  own  Experience  — his  own  Truth.  To  man’s  mind  everything  is 
subservient.  The  heavens  above,  the  earth  beneath,  and  profoundest  princi- 
ples, are  all  his  own.  To  the  Turk  and  Christian,  to  the  Jew  and  Gentile,  to 
the  Serf  and  Emperor,  to  the  Slave  and  Master  — to  each  of  these,  all  rights 
and  all  liberties  will  come  at  last.  We  know  this  in  the  depth  of  spiritual 
wisdom.  Most  grateful  do  we  feel  for  the  power  to  realize  the  fact,  that  influ- 
ences are  now  being  exerted,  on  all  sides,  for  the  amelioration  of  our  universal 
race,  and  the  establishment  of  individual  Rights  and  Liberties.  — Herald  of 
Progress. 


OWEN’S  BOOK. 

“ Footfalls  on  the  Boundaries  of  Another  World.”  By  Robert  Dale  Owen. 

The  sale  of  this  book  exceeded  six  thousand  copies,  within  fifty  days ; and 
that  out  of  forty  newspaper  notices,  thirty-eight  were  of  a favorable  character, 
and  some  of  them  recommended  the  clergy  to  read  it.  Also,  as  a proof  of  the 
demand  for  such  works  by  outsiders,  or  not  acknowledged  Spiritualists,  over 
five  thousand  of  the  first  edition  were  sold  by  non-Spiritualist  book  dealers. 

Mr.  Owen  is  preparing  a second  volume. 

Sold  by  all  of  the  principal  book  dealers. 


GOD  NO  RESPECTER  OF  PERSONS. 

I believe  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  or  times,  or  conditions.  As 
he  is  the  Creator  of  all  things,  thus  he  looketh  with  pleasure  alike  upon  all. 
What  we  call  good  and  evil  are  constantly  before  him,  and  lo ! he  saith,  all  is 
good. 

God  is  all-wise,  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever;  he  cannot  err.  His  wisdom 
is  not  that  of  mortals.  The  Record  says  : “ God  created  all,  and  pronounced 
it  good.”  And  again  it  says  : “There  is  none  good — notone .”  This  proves 
the  Record  false  — the  word  of  man. 

God  never  contradicts  himself ; his  laws  are  harmonious,  and  you  will  see 
them  so  when  you  understand  them.  He  does  not  say,  obey  me  to-day  and 
disobey  me  to-morrow.  He  commands  obedience  always.  He  bids  you  live  in 
accordance  with  your  nature,  not  with  the  light  he  has  given  another.  Jehovah 
alone  has  the  power  of  judgment,  and  you  are  not  the  judge  of  your  fellow 
man.  Everything  is  marked  with  God  and  goodness.  There  is  nothing  lost 
Everything  belongs  to  perfection,  and  thus  to  God. 


150 


APPENDIX 


AURORA  BOREALIS. 

[The  following  is  a communication,  received  through  a medium,  from  the 
spirits.] 

“ The  Electric  Fluid  pervading  the  earth’s  atmosphere  is  excited  and  gene- 
rated by  the  sun’s  rays,  and  consequently  with  the  greatest  force  about  the 
equator.  From  there  it  is  dispensed  throughout  the  earth’s  atmosphere. 

“ Heat  evolves  the  fluid,  while  cold  absorbs  and  retains  it ; therefore  the  fluid 
generated  in  excess  about  the  equator,  passes  in  direct  lines  toward  the  colder 
regions  where  it  is  not  generated. 

“ While  these  currents  flow  without  interruption,  the  fluid  is  not  visible. 

“ When  the  atmosphere  intermediate  between  the  poles  and  the  equator  be- 
comes excessively  cold,  the  fluid  is  there  absorbed,  causing  a deficiency  at  the 
poles.  On  the  atmosphere  becoming  mild,  the  fluid  rushes  toward  those  parts 
where  there  is  a deficiency,  for  electricity  seeks  an  equilibrium  as  water  does 
its  level. 

“ Electricity  can  be  seen  only  when  active  in  excess ; therefore  it  is  that  at 
the  time  of  an  Aurora,  it  becomes  visible  first  at  the  point  of  greatest  attrac- 
tion, where  its  rapid  absorption  causes  excessive  action,  and  for  this  reason  the 
flashes  of  light  appear  to  pass  from  the  polar  regions  toward  the  equator,  or 
from  that  point  where  absorption  first  commences  toward  that  furnishing  the 
supply. 

“ Thus  all  the  electric  phenomena  we  witness,  are  caused  by  the  fluid  seeking 
an  equilibrium. 

“ The  same  cause  which  induces  the  flow  of  electric  fluid  toward  the  poles, 
that  of  a want  there  existing,  causes  the  effect  produced  upon  the  Magnetic 
Needle.” 

Query:  May  we  not  justly  attribute  the  violent  tornadoes,  hail-storms, 
etc.,  that  have  occurred  during  the  present  season,  to  the  very  unusual  electric 
commotion  witnessed  in  our  atmosphere  last  September  ? 


DIVINE  LOVE. 

Enough  that  the  Great  Father  loves  all  his  children  with  an  undying,  inex- 
haustible affection,  which  many  waters  cannot  quench,  nor  floods  drown,  and 
which  sin  itself  has  no  power  to  diminish.  Enough  that  all  his  providences 
tend  invariably  to  some  kind  and  degree  of  good,  forever  and  ever.  Our  soul 
is  made  glad  within  us,  and  shouts  with  an  interior  joy  for  what  unknown 
mercies  must  eternally  be  measured  out,  and  what  more  than  puny  human 
thoughts  are  in  the  Great  Everlasting  Love. — W.  H.  Fernald. 


THE  SOUL  OF  MAN. 

All  religious  denominations  admit  that  man  has  within  him  a something  that 
lives  after  the  body  is  dead,  though  none  of  them  are  able  to  define  it,  or  tell 
aught  definitely  concerning  it ; nothing  about  its  shape  here,  the  part  of 
the  body  it  occupies,  or  the  form  it  bears  after  it  leaves  the  body ; yet  they 
are  continually  talking  about  saving  the  soul.  Spiritualism  tells  man  what 
his  soul  is,  then  shows  him  how  to  save  it,  by  bringing  to  his  presence  the 
realities  of  the  future  life,  which  is  but  a continuation  of  this*  When  the  truth 
of  Spiritualism  is  fully  realized,  it'  is  not^a  faith,  nor  yet  a belief  but  a knowl- 
edge, that  can  never  be  taken  away.  There  are-four  points  on  which  all  Spir- 
itualists agree,  however  much  they  may  differ  iuTlrtngs  which  are  mere  matters 
of  opinion,  viz.,  Existence  of  Deity,  Immortality  of  the  Soul,  Eternal  Progress, 
and  Spiritual  Intercourse.  In  these  four  short  sentences  there  is  embodied 
thought  enough  for  a lifetime,  opening  wide  the  gateways  of  knowledge,  and 
proclaiming  to  man  his  future  destiny.  It  is  a rule  in  nature,  that  a person, 
power  or  principle,  cannot  bestow  that  which  it  docs  not  or  has  not  possessed. 
— A.  B.  Whiting. 


APPENDIX 


151 


THE  BARBARISM  OF  THE  LORD! 

Senator  Sumner,  in  his  speech  on  “ The  Barbarism  of  Slavery ,”  says : “ I 
have  no  personal  wrongs  to  avenge ; only  a barbarous  nature  could  attempt  to 
wield  that  vengeance  which  belongs  to  the  Lord.”  It  is  a flattering  compli- 
ment at  the  expense  of  the  “Lord.” 

But  it  appears  that  the  Hon.  Senator  has  a Lord,  with  a vengeance.  However 
progressive  he  may  be  in  his  political  theories,  his  “ Lord  ” is  decidedly  behind 
the  times.  Although  without  doubt,  his  conceptions  of  God  were  received 
from  the  orthodox  teachings  of  ancient  superstitious  fears  of  a revengeful  and 
personating  Deity. 


FREELOVISM  AND  SPIRITUALISM. 

A disconsolate  correspondent  inquires,  Cannot  Spiritualism  be  separated 
from  the  doctrines  of  Freelovism'? 

Answer:  We  have  never  been  able  to  detect  any  connection  between  the 
theory  of  Spiritualism  and  the  so-called  doctrines  of  Free  Love. 

• The  two  are  essentially  different ; both  in  their  facts  and  in  their  teachings. 
The  former,  Spiritualism,  is  a beautiful  science  of  Future  individual  life,  based 
upon  countless  monumental  facts  of  undoubted  intercourse  between  human 
beings  and  the  spirits  of  the  departed  ; while  the  latter,  Freelovism,  is  a social 
theory,  entertained  and  practiced  by  persons  both  honest  and  dishonest,  that 
conjugal  love  between  the  sexes  should  be  regulated  by  affinitive  inclinations 
only. 

That  there  are  many  openly  avowed  Freelovers,  who  are  also  Spiritualists  in 
belief,  we  do  not  for  one  moment  deny.  But  we  have  repeatedly  affirmed,  as 
susceptible  of  every  proof,  that  Spiritualism  is  not  responsible  for  the  existence 
of  Freelovism,  nor  can  the  teachings  of  Spiritualism  be  made  to  sustain  any 
unholy  conduct  on  the  part  of  its  advocates.  We  have  confidence  that  every 
justice-loving  and  candid  mind,  whether  friend  or  foe  to  the  cause  of  Progress, 
will  exercise  judgment  and  discrimination  on  the  difference  between  Spiritual- 
ism, per  se,  and  Freelovism,  per  se,  both  with  respect  to  their  theories  and  their 
practical  influence  in  society.  Because  the  effect  of  Spiritualism  is  universally 
liberalizing,  and  because  it  lovingly  and  hopefully  enfolds  all  mankind  in  its 
hospitable  embrace,  are  we  thence  to  conclude  that  all  extremisms  and  every 
error  of  its  adherents  are  legitimate  fruits  of  the  spiritual  soil  ? Spiritualism 
is  a science  by  itself,  and  its  facts  are  facts  by  themselves,  and  as  such  the 
doctrine  should  be  studied  and  weighed  in  the  balance  of  reason. 

Of  Freelovism  we  say  the  same.  It  is  a theory  by  itself,  and  its  legitimate 
practices  are  practices  by  themselves  in  the  social  fabric,  and  we  believe  that  as 
such  they  challenge  the  most  thorough  examination.  The  facts  of  Freelovers 
should  be  fearlessly  met,  and  their  arguments  should  be  squarely  weighed,  in 
the  limpid  light  of  principles.  All  petulancy  and  intolerance  will  prove  ineffi- 
cacious. We  have  many  times  urged  our  objections  to  the  doctrines  of  Free- 
lovers. They  know  full  well  that  we  do  not  fellowship  their  theories,  and  that 
much  of  their  practice  we  unutterably  abhor.  But  they  also  know  that  we 
advocate  free  discussion,  and  justice  to  opponents,  and  on  this  ground  we  admit 
all  subjects  to  our  columns.  Free  speech  is  the  inalienable  prerogative  of  every 
human  mind. — Herald  of  Progress. 


WHATEVER  IS,  IS  RIGHT. 

This  book,  by  A.  B.  Child,  M.  D.,  Boston,  Mass.,  is  now  ready,  and  will  be 
sent  to  single  orders,  post  paid,  for  one  dollar,  and  to  dealers  at  a liberal  dis- 
count. It  is  a peaceful  book,  yet  it  is  bold  and  fearless  in  its  utterance.  It  is 
a curiosity*  for  it  presents  new  and  startling  thought.  It  is  replete  with  asser- 
tions that  seem  hard  to  controvert.  It  presents  a religion  with  which  the 
natural  desires  of  every  soul  have  a strong  affinity.  If  the  position  taken  by 
the  book  be  true,  it  presents  to  humanity  a new  religion  more  beautiful  than 
language  can  express. 


152 


APPENDIX 


MORAL  CONSEQUENCES  OF  SPIRITUALISM. 

By  reasoning,  practical  study,  and  observation  of  facts,  Spiritualism  con- 
firms and  proves  the  fundamental  basis  of  religion,  namely : 

The  existence  of  an  only,  omnipotent  God,  creator  of  all  things,  supremely 
just  and  good. 

The  existence  of  the  soul;  its  immortality,  and  its  individuality  after  death. 

Man’s  free  will,  and  the  responsibility  which  he  incurs  for  all  his  acts. 

Man’s  happy  or  unhappy  state  after  death,  according  to  the  use  which  he  has 
made  of  his  faculties  during  this  life. 

The  necessity  of  good,  and  the  dire  consequences  of  evil. 

The  utility  of  prayer. 

It  resolves  many  problems  which  find  their  only  possible  explanation  in  the 
existence  of  an  invisible  word,  peopled  by  beings  who  have  thrown  off  the 
corporeal  envelope,  who  surround  us,  and  who  exercise  an  increasing  influence 
upon  the  visible  world. 

It  is  a source  of  consolation  : 

By  the  certainty  which  it  gives  us  of  the  future  which  awaits  us. 

By  the  material  proof  of  the  existence  of  those  whom  we  have  loved  on 
earth,  the  certainty  of  their  presence  about  us,  the  certainty  of  rejoining  them 
in  the  world  of  spirits,  and  the  possibility  of  communicating  with  them,  and  of 
receiving  salutary  counsels  from  them. 

By  the  courage  which  it  gives  us  in  adversity. 

By  the  elevation  which  it  impresses  upon  our  thoughts  in  giving  us  a just 
idea  of  the  value  of  the  things  and  goods  of  this  world. 

It  contributes  to  the  happiness  of  man  upon  the  earth  : 

In  counteracting  hopelessness  and  despair. 

In  teaching  man  to  be  content  with  what  he  has. 

In  teaching  him  to  regard  wealth,  honor,  and  power,  as  trials  to  be  more 
dreaded  than  desired. 

In  inspiring  him  with  sentiments  of  charity  and  true  fraternity  for  his 
neighbor. 

The  result  of  these  principles,  once  propagated  and  rooted  in  the  human 
heart,  will  be : 

To  render  men  better  and  more  indulgent  to  their  kind. 

To  gradually  destroy  individual  selfishness,  by  the  community  which  it 
establishes  among  men. 

To  excite  a laudable  emulation  for  good. 

To  put  a curb  upon  disorderly  desires. 

To  favor  intellectual  and  moral  development,  not  merely  with  respect  to 
present  well-being,  but  to  the  future  which  is  attached  to  it ; 

And,  by  all  these  causes,  to  aid  in  the  progressive  amelioration  of  humanity. — 
Allan  Kardec,  Editor  of  the  “ Revue  Spirite,”  Pans. 


Whither  shall  I go  from  thy  spirit1?  or  whither  shall  I flee  from  thy  pres- 
ence ? — David. 

Touching  the  Almighty,  we  cannot  find  Him  out. — Job. 


A Judge  Prohibited  from  Partaking  of  the  Body. 

Judge  W , traveling  in  the  State  of  Iowa,  remained  over  Sunday  in  a 

small  town  less  than  a hundred  miles  from  Lyons,  and  attended  church.  At 
the  close  of  the  forenoon  service,  the  divine  announced  that  he  would  administer 
the  “ Lord’s  Supper.”  When  distributing  the  bread  and  wine  to  the  people, 
he  stepped  to  the  Judge  and  softly  whispered  : “ I am  not  certain  whether  you 
belong  here  or  not.”  “Well,”  said  the  Judge,  coolly,  “ I understood  you  to 
say  it  was  the  Lord’s  Supper,  and  thought  I would  take  you  at  your  word,  and 
partake;  but  if  it  is  a small  PRIVATE  party  of  your  own,  1 wili  not  intrude  1” 


APPENDIX. 


153 


A HOPE  FOR  ALL! 

The  Rev.  T.  K.  Beecher  says  : “ The  doctrine  of  the  final  restoration  of  all 
has  a home  in  the  best  corner  of  my  heart ; and  when  I reflect/’  said  he,  “ that 
God  is  able  to  do  above  what  we  can  think  or  desire , I can  but  believe  that  such 
will  be  the  grand  result.” 

Thus  do  the  Beechers  dispose  of  the  Pagan  dogma  — an  endless  hell , — begot- 
ten in  ignorance,  cradled  in  Asia,  and  transmitted  to  us  through  a corrupt  Catho- 
lic priesthood. 


WHEN  WAS  THAT  LAW  ANNULLED? 

Most  religious  sects  believe  there  was  a time  when  spirits  returned  to  earth, 
(their  sacred  writings  are  full  of  many  such  instances,)  but  they  say  the  day  of 
such  revelations  has  passed  away,  though  that  same  book  says : “ God  is  un- 
changeable, and  his  laws  immutable ; the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.” 
So  if  there  was  a law  by  which  a spirit  could  communicate  eighteen  hundred 
or  four  thousand  years  ago,  that  same  law  is  in  full  force  to-day. 


ETERNITY. 

Eternity  has  no  gray  hairs.  The  flowers  fade,  the  heart  withers,  man  grows 
old  and  dies ; the  world  lies  down  in  the  sepulchre  of  ages,  but  time  writes  no 
wrinkles  on  eternity.  Eternity!  Stupendous  thought!  The  ever-present, 
unborn,  undecaying  and  undying,  the  endless  chain,  compassing  the  life  of 
God  — the  golden  thread,  entwining  the  destinies  of  the  universe.  Earth  has 
its  beauties,  but  time  shrouds  them  for  the  grave  ; its  honors  are  but  the  sun- 
shine of  an  hour ; its  palaces,  they  are  but  the  gilded  sepulchres ; its  posses- 
sions, they  are  toys  of  changing  fortune ; its  pleasures,  they  are  but  as  bursting 
bubbles.  Not  so  in  the  untried  bourne.  In  the  dwelling  of  the  Almighty  can 
come  no  footsteps  of  decay. — Banner  of  Light. 


HEALTH  OF  FARMERS. 

There  are  seven  reasons  why  farmers  are  healthier  than  professional  men, 
viz. : 

1.  They  work  more,  and  develop  all  the  leading  muscles  of  the  body. 

2.  They  take  exercise  in  the  open  air,  and  breathe  a greater  amount  of 
oxygen  from  the  pure  atmosphere  of  heaven. 

3.  Their  food  and  drinks  are  commonly  less  adulterated,  and  far  more 
simple. 

4.  They  do  not  overwork  their  brain  as  much  as  professional  men. 

5.  They  take  their  sleep  commonly  during  the  hours  of  darkness,  and  do 
not  try  to  turn  day  into  night. 

6.  They  are  not  so  ambitious,  and  consequently  do  not  wear  themselves  out 
so  rapidly  in  the  contest  of  rivalry. 

7.  Their  pleasures  are  simple,  and  less  exhausting. 


HOW  TO  READ  THE  BIBLE. 

An  old  man  once  said,  “ For  a long  period  I puzzled  myself  about  the  diffi- 
culties of  Scripture,  until  at  last  I came  to  the  resolution  that  reading  the 
Bible  was  like  eating  fish.  When  I find  a difficulty,  I lay  it  aside  and  call  it  a 
bone.  Why  should  I choke  on  the  bone,  when  there  is  so  much  nutritious 
meat'?  ” — Christian  Advocate. 

[Query.  What  passage  contains  the  nutritious  meat  ? What  one  religious 
denomination  terms  meat,  another  calls  bone;  therefore  the  so-called  “ World’s 
People,” — judging  from  the  orthodox  religious  interpretations  — have  great 
difficulty  in  distinguishing  the  meat  from  the  bone.] 


154 


APPENDIX. 


Resolutions  of  the  Spiritual  Conference  recently  held  at  St.  Charles, 

Illinois. 

Hon.  S.  S.  Jones,  President,  offered  the  following  resolutions,  not  for  adop- 
tion by  vote,  but  as  the  crystallization  of  thoughts  upon  the  subject  therein 
embraced,  viz. : 

Resolved,  That  freedom  of  thought,  and  the  free  expression  thereof — or  in- 
spiration and  revelation  — are  inestimable  privileges  and  inalienable  rights, 
belonging  alike  to  every  intelligent  being. 

2.  Resolved,  That  the  past,  with  all  its  darkness  and  errors  of  every  age,  was 
goodness  in  degree,  and  in  accordance  with  the  highest  lights  then  beaming  into 
the  minds  of  humanity;  and  the  traditional  and  written  history  thereof  seem 
as  beacon  lights  to  mankind  at  the  present  time,  to  guard  them  from  the  shoals, 
.quicksands  and  coral  reefs  upon  which  others  have  foundered  : That  we  should 
not  cling  to  them,  nor  follow  in  their  pathway,  any  more  than  the  branches  of 
the  tree  should  be  the  trunk,  or  the  flowers  the  twigs  upon  which  they  grow, 
but  that  each  free-born  mind  should  reach  out  for  higher  conceptions  of  truth, 
new  fields  of  action,  and  more  independence,  even  to  perfect  freedom. 

3.  Resolved,  That  blind  submission  to  precedents,  immemorial  usages,  cus- 
toms, popular  opinions,  conventionalisms,  or  books  of  authorities,  is  only 
worthy  of  those  who  still  live  in  the  darkness  of  the  past,  whose  shadows  still 
loom  up  in  the  moral  West  with  blasting  influence  upon  the  body  politic,  giv- 
ing man  authority  and  precedent  for  every  evil  deed,  but  which  are  being  rap- 
idly dispelled  by  the  effulgent  rays  of  the  great  central  luminary,  Wisdom. 

4.  Resolved,  That  a blind  submission  to  any  church,  creed,  or  confession  of 
faith,  or  the  pledging  of  allegiance  to  any  stated  opinions  of  any  one  man  or 
body  of  men,  is  a dismemberment  of  the  right  arm  of  individuality,  and  crip- 
pling to  all  those  higher  faculties  which  are  especially  enobling  to  humanity. 

5.  Resolved,  That  in  all  things  the  rights  of  females  are  as  sacred  as  those  of 
males;  that  their  opinions,  when  founded  in  like  wisdom,  are  as  worthy  of 
being  respected,  and  their  privilege  of  a full,  perfect,  and  free  expression  of 
opinions,  is  an  inalienable  right ; consequently,  any  attempt,  by  whatsoever 
means,  to  restrict  such  privilege,  is  an  unwarrantable  assumption  of  power  un- 
becoming an  enlightened  people. 

LIBERALISM. 

As  illustrative  of  a growing  liberality,  we  would  refer  to  the  recent  invitations 
of  the  Revs.  Clark  and  Beecher  to  the  communion  service.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Clark, 
a venerable  orthodox  divine,  having  referred  to  the  broken  body  and  flowing 
blood  of  our  Saviour,  as  symbolizing  his  sufferings  and  martyrdom  in  attesta- 
tion of  the  truths  he  had  taught,  invited  all,  “ ALL,”  of  whatever  name  or 
fold  (this  would  include  Universalists,  Unitarians,  etc.,)  in  Christendom,  “that 
loved  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  endeavored  to  live  Christian  lives,  to  partake  of  the 
sacramental  bread  and  wine.”  This  savors  but  little  of  the  spirit  that  charac- 
terizes “ close  communion  ” Baptist  churches  — a spirit  which  when  literally 
translated  signifies  my  church,  my  creed,  my  sect,  my  Jesus,  my  Heaven,  and  that 
of  such  meagre  dimensions  as  to  accomodate  only  the  “ ELECT” — a self- 
conceited,  selfish  few  ! 


IMPORTANT  QUESTIONS. 

If  God  dislikes  a portion  of  mankind,  why  did  he  make  them  ? 

If  God  loves  one  man  more  than  another,  where  is  his  impartiality  ? 

Do  we  need  confidence  in  that  power  that  made  us,  and  still  rules  and  sustains 
us,  to  believe,  to  know,  that  all  tilings  are  for  our  good  ? 


Spiritualism  has  been  called  a humbug,  and  within  the  past  twelve  years  it 
has  made  a great  hum  l now  let  us  find  the  bug  l 


APPENDIX. 


155 


BRIEF  EXTRACTS, 

From  Dr.  A.  B.  Child’s  Book , “ Whatever  Is,  Is  Right.” 

What  is  Nature? 

Nature  is  all  space  and  all  matter  — all,  a million  times  told,  that  our  feeble 
consciousness  can  yet  grasp  ; all  life,  and  the  manifestations  of  life ; all  that 
has  passed,  all  that  is,  and  all  that  ever  will  be.  Nature,  we  conceive,  is  the 
manifestation  of  Infinite  Power,  Infinite  Wisdom  and  Infinite  Perfection ; it  is 
the  product  of  undefined  harmony  and  unutterable  beauty. 

What  is  God? 

All  that  we  know  of  God  is  made  manifest  to  us  in  nature.  Beyond  this  we 
know  nothing  of  God.  We  say  that  God  is  infinite  in  power,  in  wisdom,  in 
presence,  in  love,  in  goodness.  In  every  thing  we  may  recognize  the  spirit  of 
God,  and  in  the  nature  of  all  things  we  have  a limited  sense  of  what  God  is. 
There  is  no  place,  no  space,  no  thing,  where  God  is  not.  There  is  no  power 
that  is  not  God’s  power;  no  condition  that  is  not  God’s  condition;  no  presence 
that  is  not  God’s  presence ; no  love  that  is  not  God’s  love  ; no  goodness  that 
is  not  God’s  goodness.  Evil  has  no  place  in  God,  so  it  must  be  nowhere. 

What  is  Religion. 

Religion  is  the  natural  desire  of  the  soul ; a desire  for  something  that  the 
soul  does  not  possess.  Every  desire  is  religion  to  the  soul  that  produces  the 
desire.  Desire  is  a wish,  a longing  for  something  not  yet  possessed.  What- 
ever the  desire  may  be,  whether  it  is  called  good  or  bad,  that  desire  is  the 
natural  religion  of  the  soul  that  develops  the  desire.  Religion  is  natural  and 
inevitable  ; it  is  a property  of  human  life.  Nature  governs  and  directs  it;  the 
soul  produces  it. 


What  is  Death? 

To  life  there  is  no  death.  Life  can  never  die.  All  life  inevitably  lives  for 
ever.  Life  is  spirit  that  produces  matter  that  clothes  life ; which  matter,  when 
ripened  and  matured,  falls  from  the  thing  of  life  like  leaves  that  fall  from  the 
living  tree.  What  we  call  death  is  but  the  falling  off  of  the  flesh,  blood,  and 
bones  from  the  beautiful  spirit  of  enduring  life. 

What  is  Life? 

Life  is  spirit.  Spirit  is  a property  of  eternity ; all  life,  both  vegetable  and 
animal,  we  conceive,  is  immortal.  No  life  can  ever  cease  to  be.  Life  makes 
matter  appear  animated  when  in  it,  and  when  it  goes  out  again,  matter  appears 
dead.  All  we  know  of  life  is  its  manifestations  through  materialism,  which 
afford  us  but  a faint  knowledge  of  its  reality.  What  is  life  ? It  is  impossible 
to  tell  by  the  aid  of  material  philosophy  ; intuition,  without  the  aid  of  words 
alone,  can  answer.  Life  is  spirit,  and  spirit  is  immortality  ; and  immortality 
is  life  — is  spirit. 


What  is  Intuition? 

Intuition  is  spontaneous  thought,  developed  by  natural  growth  of  soul, 
independent  of  all  external  influences ; it  is  the  tacit  persuasion  of  the  inner 
being ; it  is  the  positive  knowledge  of  the  soul  that  comes  from  whence  we 
know  not.  It  is  the  volition  of  truth  ; it  is  the  light  of  spiritual  realities ; it  is 
the  bright  and  morning  star  that  is  rising  in  the  spiritual  firmament  now ; it  is 
the  monitor  of  the  soul,  and  by  it  the  soul  learns  its  first  lessons  of  eternal 
truth,  and  through  eternity  shall  never  cease  to  learn. 


156 


APPENDIX 


What  is  Human  Reason? 

It  is  one  of  the  guardian  angels  of  our  material  existence;  it  is  the  product 
of  the  soul  acting  through  matter;  it  can  control  material  things,  not  spiritual 
things  ; it  is  an  effect  of  the  soul  that  is  allied  to  material  philosophy,  and  with 
the  material  things  of  earth  will  sometimes  give  place  to  the  higher  develop- 
ment of  intuition. 


What  is  Infidelity? 

Infidelity  is  to  me  that  which  another  believes,  and  that  which  I do  not 
believe.  If  I believe  in  one  creed  only,  I am  infidel  to  all  other  creeds;  if  I 
believe  in  two  creeds,  I am  less  infidel ; if  I believe  in  all  creeds,  I am  not 
infidel  at  all.  So  the  greatest  infidel  believes  that  only  one  creed  is  right, 
while  he  that  is  not  an  infidel  at  all,  believes  that  every  creed  is  right ; — believes 
that  every  creed  is  an  effect  of  a lawful  cause  that  exists  in  nature. 

What  is  HeH? 

Hell  is  suffering.  Its  conditions  are  contention  and  war;  a conflict  and  a 
struggle  for  happiness ; a desperate  fight  with  the  dark  phantom  called  Evil ; 
an  unmitigated  war  with  the  shadow  of  matter  called  the  Devil,  who  was  never 
yet  seen  with  sensuous  eyes  or  with  spiritual  eyes.  Hell  is  a soul-conflict, 
which  is  the  effect  of  soul  growth ; it  is  a struggle  between  the  material  and 
the  spiritual  world ; it  is  a breaking  of  earthly  affections,  and  a rising  of  the 
soul  out  of  the  darkness  of  the  material,  to  the  light  and  beauty  of  spiritual 
life. 


Where  is  Hell  ? 

In  the  bosom  of  the  sufferer,  always.  It  may  be  anywhere,  it  may  be  every- 
where, where  suffering  is.  There  is  no  avenue  of  earth  where  suffering  does 
not  exist. 

/ What  is  Heaven? 

Heaven  is  rest  of  the  soul.  All  that  is  peace,  harmony,  joy,  happiness,  is 
heaven;  all  that  presents  evidence  of  right  and  good;  all  that  evinces  wisdom, 
order,  design  in  the  plan  of  creation,  are  emanations  of  beauty  that  make  up 
the  atmosphere  of  heaven,  which  every  soul  in  heaven  breathes.  Heaven  is  a 
condition  of  the  inner  man,  that  sees  goodness  and  right  in  everything ; order, 
design,  harmony,  and  beauty  existing  in  all  places  and  conditions  throughout 
the  universe  of  God.  Heaven  is  that  condition  of  soul  which  feels  that  what- 
ever is,  is  right. 

Where  is  Heaven? 

Christ  has  said  that  “ the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  us.”  There  is  no 
place  to  look  for  heaven,  except  it  be  within  the  longing,  throbbing  soul.  If 
anywhere,  there  heaven  is,  and  each  soul  for  itself  finds  it  there.  Heaven  is 
everywhere,  is  anywhere  where  the  soul  is  in  peace,  in  harmony,  and  in  love 
with  all  existence. 


How  do  we  get  to  Heaven? 

By  the  natural  process  of  soul-development;  by  suffering  and  conflict ; by 
the  power  of  the  laws  of  God  acting  in  nature.  Never  by  our  own  efforts. 


Is  Public  Opinion  Right? 

It  is  always  right,  for  it  is  a lawful  effect  of  a natural  cause.  Thus  every 
opinion  is  right.  Public  opinion  is  always  right  for  that  condition  of  the  public 
mind  that  produces  and  supports  it. 


APPENDIX. 


157 


Who  are  the  Followers  of  Christ? 

Those  who  drink  the  cup  of  bitterness  to  its  dregs ; those  who  suffer  in  the 
gardens  of  earth ; those  whole  earthly  existence  is  crucified  ; those  who  bind 
up  the  bleeding  wounds  of  a suffering  humanity ; those  who  eat  with  publicans 
and  sinners  ; those  who  commune  with  devils  and  with  angels  ; those  whose 
affections  are  set  on  spiritual  things  that  endure,  more  than  on  things  of  earth 
that  perish  ; those  who  recognize  a power  that  transcends  the  boundaries  of 
matter,  and  reaches  out  to  grasp  the  limitless  beauties  that  are  prepared  and 
waiting  for  them  in  the  many  mansions  of  their  heavenly  homes. 

Is  one  Man  superior  to  another  Man? 

In  his  physical  being  he  may  be.  He  may  weigh  more  ; he  may  have  more 
money ; he  may  have  more  of  the  philosophies  of  matter ; he  may  have  hand- 
somer morals  and  a cleaner  earthly  religion ; he  may  have  a handsomer  face 
and  form,  a handsomer  dress ; he  may  cheat  more  legally  and  trade  more 
shrewdly ; he  may  talk  more  fluently  and  write  more  elegantly ; he  may  live 
in  a handsomer  house  and  repose  more  comfortably  in  the  arms  of  luxury.  In 
all  these  earthly  things,  and  a thousand  more  of  a kindred  nature,  one  man 
may  be  superior  to  another ; but  all  this  superiority  is  like  the  superiority  seen 
in  the 

“ track  of  feet, 

Left  on  Tampa’s  desert  strand  ; 

Soon  as  the  rising  tide  shall  beat, 

Their  marks  shall  vanish  from  the  sand.” 

The  soul  of  one  man  is  not  superior  to  the  soul  of  another  man,  for  if  one 
possesses  the  properties  of  eternal  life  and  unending  progress,  the  other  also 
does.  These  properties,  when  recognized,  put  an  end  to  the  thought  of  supe- 
rior and  inferior,  as  applied  to  the  beautiful  soul.  Hence  one  man  is  not 
superior  to  another  man. 

PHENOMENA  OF  LIFE. 

Whereas  the  phenomena  of  Life  has  bewildered  minute  philosophers  of  all 
ages,  many  of  whom  have  given  to  the  world  vague  and  irrational  impressions 
which  have  not  been  sustained  by  existing  facts ; a natural  human  credulity 
which  has  given  a repressive  bondage  for  ages,  while  the  lovers  of  power 
have  sanctified  every  error.  We  dare  to  present  to  mankind  a rational  hypothe- 
sis, derived  from  existing  facts.  We  all  admit  that  the  material  or  solid  matter 
of  bodies  is  composed  of  earth  and  water,  volatilized  into  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms.  We  know  this  fact,  that  vegetable  and  animal  solidity  decomposes, 
and  again  returns  to  its  primeval  elements.  We  naturally  feel  inquisitive  as  to 
where  is  that  Life  and  Mind  which  occupied  the  tenement ; how  did  it  come, 
and  where  has  it  gone?  I answer,  first,  The  sun’s  rays  of  light  and  heat 
evolving  from  his  radiant  body,  quickening  inanimate  to  animate  life,  which 
is  the  soul  of  the  world,  constantly  shining  on  our  orb,  with  a transit  of  incal- 
culable speed,  filling  immensity  with  his  rays,  having  the  element  of  life,  vivi- 
fying all  matter,  “ breathes  into  its  nostrils  the  breath  of  life.”  If  the  material 
bodies  of  our  earth  return  to  their  native  element,  why  not  the  soul,  which  has 
descended,  when  its  work  is  finished,  tender  back,  from  necessity,  to  its  Al- 
mighty Giver,  that  which  is  only  lent  ? Is  it  more  impossible  to  ascend  than 
descend  ? Do  not  the  waters  of  our  earth  ascend  in  vapors  through  the  Father 
of  the  Universe  ? then  why  not  a more  subtle  fluid  ? Is  there  evidence  of  a 
more  munificent  being  ? Are  we  ro  reject  a positive  fact  for  vague  conjecture  ? 
Our  conscious  existence  demands  our  gratitude  and  admiration  that  so  pure  an 
element  for  our  use  should  not  be  contaminated  nor  reverted  from  its  unsullied 
purity. 

We  feel  as  if  that  awful  necessity,  Death,  had  lost  its  terrors  to  the  philoso- 
pher and  the  virtuous.  How  beautiful  to  contemplate  a body  lying  prostrate, 
dead,  which  was  propelled  by  an  imponderable  vitality.  We  see  the  body,  but, 
alas!  no  reason,  no  speech,  to~mferest  us.  That*  which  was  everything  that 


158 


APPENDIX. 


was  engaging,  has  left  the  tenement.  We  look,  we  hope,  in  vain  to  sec  that 
body  erect.  We  have  philosophical  evidence  of  the  eternity  of  matter  visible, 
then  why  should  not  that,  though  invisible,  which_moves  visible  matter,  be  also 
eternal'?  We  may  ask,  have  we,  like  the  lower  animals,  instincts  1 We  have, 
and  mankind  will  never  be  in  the  glory  of  manhood,  until  every  attribute  shall 
harmonize  in  each  one’s  self;  I in  God,  and  God  in  me;  then  indeed  shall  we 
in  truth  say  we  are  the  sons  of  God. — John  Ludby. 


WHAT  SPIRITUALISM  HAS  DONE. 

Before  the  advent  of  Spiritualism,  the  masses  of  the  people  lay  in  spiritual 
night.  Zion  was  mournful  and  desolate,  watching  in  vain  for  the  Millenial 
morn  to  break.  The  multitudes  plodded  on  with  no  certain  light  of  the  future. 
Children  huddled  in  silent  awe  over  the  dead.  Death  was  a blinding,  frightful 
mystery.  Homes  sounded  hollow  with  the  wail  and  woe  of  bereaved  hearts. 
Marys  watched  lonely  at  the  sepulchre,  but  no  resurrection  morn  dawned  on 
their  tear-dimmed  eyes.  Young  men  and  maidens,  aged  and  middle-aged, 
mourners  all,  hung  desolate  over  grave-yards  and  blasted  hearth-stones,  calling 
for  the  dear  departed  ; and  the  dying  lifted  their  wan  hands  and  faces  towards 
that  dread  unknown  from  whose  bourne  no  traveler  had  supposed  to  return. 

Hark ! sounds  were  heard.  They  came  again  and  again.  From  home  to 
home  they  vibrate,  till  oceans  and  continents  are  crossed,  till  every  ear  is 
startled,  till  the  whole  globe  trembles  as  beneath  shocks  of  some  celestial  bat- 
tery, touched  by  the  fingers  of  Omnipotence,  flashing  the  electric  flames  and 
rolling  the  thunder  of  Sinai  over  the  angel-trod  mountain  tops  of  the  century. 
Messages  came,  startling  the  world  with  overwhelming  evidences  of  immor- 
tality. The  weary,  working  masses  lift  up  their  eyes  with  joy  and  wonder,  and 
new  hopes  gleam  on  their  toiling  way.  The  young  crouch  in  terror  no  more, 
but  talk  of  brothers  and  sisters  only  gone  on  before ; and  the  orphan  sees  a 
dead  mother  transformed  into  a guardian  angel,  watching  over  the  lone  one  by 
night  and  day,  and  singing  songs  of  the  everlasting  home.  Young  men  and 
maidens  trip  on  their  gladsome  way,  with  new  hopes  and  loves.  The  lost  son 
of  the  lone  widow  comes  back,  and  wipes  away  her  tears  with  hands  reached 
out  from  the  spirit  land  where  the  prodigal  shall  wander  no  more.  Fathers 
and  mothers,  and  the  long  train  of  mourners  who  wept  and  wailed  over  the 
dead,  now  lift  their  faces  heavenward ; and  lo ! the  veil  is  parted  by  beloved 
ones,  and  the  home  of  “ many  mansions  ” hymns  to  earth  the  song  of  angel- 
loves  forever  sheltered  beneath  that  Father’s  dome,  where  no  clouds  lower  or 
storms  beat  on  the  bared  soul.  Old  men  and  women,  tottering  over  the  grave 
in  despair,  start  up  on  their  staves,  bend  low  their  eager  ears ; and,  lo ! the 
dear  departed  of  other  years  come  back,  and  guide  their  trembling  steps  up  the 
mount  of  God,  where  age  blooms  in  eternal  youth,  and  the  sainted  dead  are 
gathered  to  their  fathers. — Uriah  Clark. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  THEORY. 

The  backbone  of  the  whole  theory  of  spiritual  existence  in  every  school  is, 
that  there  is  immanent  with  man  a spiritual  essence,  which,  while  the  body 
exists,  forms  apart  thereof,  and  when  it  decays,  still  remains  and  continues  to 
exist,  under  such  change  of  conditions  as  the  death  of  the  body  has  induced. 
Under  this  theory,  it  is  fair  to  infer,  that  the  spirit  which  has  been  set  free  from 
the  body  of  one  person  by  death,  and  continues  its  existence  in  the  distinctive 
spiritual  state,- is  but  an  emanation  ftom  tie-  structure  of  the  body  which tit 
once  inhabited,  and  possesses  the  same  general  character,  as  an  entity,  with 
that  which  resides  in  the  body  of  another  person  now  remaining  on  the  earth. 
That  the  spirits  in  their  disembodied  condition  can  communicate  with  those  in 
the  flesh,  is,  therefore,  as  easy  to  conceive  as  that  they  can  do  so  with  their 
ethereal  companions,  since,  in  both  states  or  spheres,  they  partake  of  the  same 
generic,  constitution  ; and  whatever  differences  there  are  between  them,  are  duo 
not  to  the  different  elements  of  their  nature,  but  to  the  different  states  and  degrees 
in  which  their  common  nature  is  developed. — Geo.  Beckwith. 


APPENDIX . 


159 


SPIRITUALISTS  IN  AMERICA. 


Maine 

. ..  50,000 

Louisiana 

20,000 

New  Hampshire 

Arkansas 

3,000 

Vermont 

Ohio 

200,000 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

80,000 

Rhode  Island 

Indiana 

60,000 

Connecticut 

Illinois 

New  York 

Wisconsin 

80,000 

New  Jersey 

Iowa 

Pennsylvania 

. . 40,000 

Minnesota 

Delaware 

Missouri 

Maryland 

Kansas 

2,00*0 

Virginia 

Nebraska 

2,000 

North  Carolina 

Florida 

1,000 

South  Carolina 

Texas 

25,000 

Georgia 

California 

40,000 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Oregon 

2,000 

New  Mexico 

2,000 

Alabama 

Cuba  

1,000 

Mississippi 

'T'hp.  rinnnHna 

ao  non 

South  America 

20,000 

Total  number  of  believers 

Increase  during  the  vear. . 

160,000 

Nominal  believers 

Spiritualists,  Eastern  continent 800,000 

Number  now  living,  supposed  to  recognize  the  fact  of  spirit  inter- 
course  15,000,000 

Population  of  the  United  States 30,000,000 

Christian  communicants 5,000,000 

Non-professorS  out  of  the  Ark  of  Safety,  whom  Spiritualism  seeks 

to  save 25,000,000 


Entire  population  of  the  globe 1,000,000,000 

Professing  Christiarfs 50,000,000 

Supposed  to  be  genuine  Christians 5,000,000 

Of  doubtful  destiny,  according  to  orthodoxy 995,000,000 

— Spiritual  Register. 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

“Watcher  on  the  tower,  what  of  the  night'?”  Are  not  the  mists  flying, 
the  day  dawning,  and  the  signs  cheering  ? Ancient  systems  are  crumbling  in 
ruins,  as  are  those  old  cathedrals  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  Our  poets,  mor- 
tal heroes,  and  representative  men,  have  literally  outgrown  them. 

Creeds,  I confess,  have  their  use ; so  does  chaff" ; so  do  husks ; but  when 
truth’s  harvest-moon  ascends  eastern  skies,  leading  on  starry  hosts  of  Reformers, 
the  husks  are  stripped  off"  to  perish.  Sectarian  Christianity  is  now  making  a 
last  spasmodic  effort. 

It  is  in  the  very  agonies  of  a death-struggle,  passing  away  with  a “great 
noise.”  Superstition  can  only  sit  now  and  growl  at  those  who  pass  his  “ castle 
of  despair.”  Blind  credulity  is  fast  losing  its  victims.  European  king-craft, 
and  American  priest-craft,  are  conscious  of  having  seen  their  palmiest  days ; 
while  custom,  the  mighty  foe  of  progress,  and  huge  giant  of  the  past,  is  losing 
his  power ; his  arms  have  become  palsied ; his  teeth  chatter  in  his  bony  head, 
and  his  breath  is  chilled  and  icy,  a certain  prophecy  of  speedy  death  — a death 
from  which,  through  endless  ages,  there  can  be  no  resurrection. — Rev.  J.  M. 
Peebles. 


160 


APPENDIX . 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG. 

The  readers,  previous  to  perusing  this  subject,  will  endeavor  to  divest  them- 
selves of  all  antecedent  creeds,  dogmas  and  opinions,  and  appeal  to  the  free 
and  untrammeled  flow  of  Reason,  which  God  has  implanted  within  our  souls. 
Reason  is  the  only  God  that  governs,  controls  and  establishes  the  idea  of  the 
true  origin  and  destiny  of  mankind  in  the  mind  of  Man.  Therefore,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  receive  the  Free  thoughts  and  impressions  that  may  appeal  to  your 
soul.  Consequently,  you  should  not  form  and  record  any  hasty  opinions  or 
judgments,  which  will  undoubtedly  arise  in  such  minds  as  have  previously  and 
do  at  present  hold  and  believe  in  opinions  given  by  leaders  of  sects  and  creeds. 

Believe  in  the  Eternal  God.  Breathe  the  pure  atmosphere  of  Heaven. 
Walk  in  the  fields  of  Nature.  Partake  of  the  murmuring  waters  that  flow 
from  the  Silvery  Fountain.  And,  Record  the  silent  tide  of  inspiration  that 
glides  from  the  fountain  of  Reason. 

We  often  judge  the  acts  of  our  neighbors,  but  have  we  a right  to? 

What  makes  a thing  right  — that  is,  we  call  certain  things  right  and  certain 
things  wrong,  but  what  makes  them  so  ? 

By  what  means  can  you  tell  whether  a thing  is  right  or  wrong  ? that  is,  what 
is  your  standard  of,  judgment  ? 

What  assurance  have  you  that  what  you  suppose  is  right  or  suppose  is  wrong, 
really  is  so  ? 

If  there  is  any  wrong  in  the  universe,  who  is  the  author  of  it? 

If  you  could  see  everything  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Deity,  that  is,  having 
infinite  wisdom,  do  you  think  that  you  would  see  any  wrong  in  the  universe ? 

We  usually  judge  between  right  and  wrong,  from  the  standard  of  our  con- 
science, which  is  supposed,  by  many,  to  be  the  internal,  reliable  self-knowledge, 
or  the  faculty,  power  or  principle  within  us,  which  approves  or  disapproves  of 
our  own  actions,  thoughts,  conduct  and  affections  — instantly,  or  as  soon  as  our 
reflective  faculties  reconsider  the  subject.  Now,  gentle  reader,  permit  us  to 
ascertain  the  origin  and  basis  of  our  conscience,  or  the  motive  power  which  dic- 
tates, governs,  controls  and  underlies  that  principle  termed  conscience.  If  man 
was  left  free  to  exercise  and  enforce  his  thoughts  or  impressions,  that  Mother 
Nature  willingly  and  freely  grants  to  him,  then  his  conscience  could  be  con- 
sidered a wise,  reliable  and  righteous  judge.  But  as  man  is  not  allowed  to 
exercise  and  enforce  his  freedom  of  thought,  being  bound  by  laws,  creeds  and 
dogmas  of  a tyrannical  nature,  his  conscience  conforms  to  and  with  such 
secondary  laws  ; consequently,  his  conscience  is  nothing  more  or  less  than  a 
slave  to  his  much-boasted  freedom  and  superiority. 

What  does  conscience  assume  for  its  standard  to-day,  in  pronouncing 
judgment  ? 

We  will  inform  you,  that  the  standard  is  the  material  or  superficial  laws  that 
have  been  introduced,  inculcated  and  instilled  into  the  human  mind.  There- 
fore, conscience  judges  from  those  laws.  To  elucidate  it  more  clearly  to  the 
investigating  mind,  we  will  state  that  some  consciences  judge  and  form  an 
opinion  from  those  laws  enacted  and  enforced  by  Moses ; others,  from  those 
laws  established  by  Jesus;  others  still,  from  the  laws  that  have  existed  within 
the  past  century,  including  the  blue  laws  of  the  New  England  colonies ; yet 
others,  judge  from  the  laws  that  exist  and  arc  in  force  throughout  our  land  at 
the  present  day.  Now  a majority  of  those  laws  arc  in  direct  antagonism  with 
each  other,  hence  the  true  cause  of  the  diversity  of  opinion  with  the  masses 
to-day  ; each  man’s  conscience  judges  from  its  habits  and  the  opinions  that  have 
surrounded  and  influenced  tile  mind.  Therefore,  we  enter  a solemn  protest 
against  accepting  of,  or  being  governed  by  our  consciences,  when  they  have 
been  kept  in  subjection  and  submission  by  the  foregoing  enumerated  influences. 
Now  allow  us  to  propose  a remedy  to  check  and  remove  the  cause  and  hin- 
drance of  the  mind  or  soul’s  development.  Let  every  member  of  the  human 
family  discard  all  antecedent  doctrines,  creeds,  dogmas  and  opinions,  then  appeal 
to  the  Reason  which  God  lias  given  to  M AN,  and  view  things  in  accordance 
with  the  light  that  is  set  before  him  by  NATURE,  which  has  pointed  out  the 
way  and  bids  you  proceed  and  follow  the  dictations  of  a free  and  untrammeled 
conscience. 

REASON,  that  is  tho  word;  aye,  that  is  the  motive  power  that  will  carry 
you  safely  along  over  Nature’s  pathway  to  the  garden  of  Paradise,  where  tho 
unfettered  soul  will  continue  to  unfold  in  wisdom  and  goodness. 


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